SEATTLE — A tent city threatened with eviction will be allowed to stay in Seattle's Ravenna neighborhood -- at least for now. Homeless advocates marched to a meeting of King County's committee to end homelessness Wednesday to ask what happens to "Tent City 3" now.
The group spent the morning on the stairs inside Seattle's City Hall after they spent the night in the city's Westlake Park in protest.
"The tent cities are the foundations they need where people can go be safe,” Tony Rinehart, who lives in one, told us.
Rinehart and the others want Tent City 3 in Ravenna allowed to remain on the public property until it moves to private property in January. Police were supposed to clear the area Wednesday, but didn't. The protestors came to city hall for a meeting of the King County Committee to End Homelessness to make their case.
The committee -- which Seattle Mayor Ed Murray sits on -- admits homelessness in the county is worse than ever, growing 30 percent the last three years during a time Seattle spends $35 million a year to reduce the problem.
"Despite that commitment, something is not working,” Mayor Murray said at the meeting.
KIRO 7 got a copy of an email sent to Tent City 3 last night by Seattle's deputy mayor that says the eviction will be delayed until the city and the tent city can meet, but no date for that meeting has been set yet.
Wednesday, the committee outlined a strategic plan to address homelessness but it focused on the need for low-income housing and didn't even touch on tents.
“We want them to get into housing and we'll do whatever we can to make that happen,” Mark Putnam, the director of the committee, told us after the meeting
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