Homeless from People’s Park encampment begin transition as new micro shelter opens
Margie Davis feels like one of the lucky ones.
Standing in the heart of a homeless encampment at Hilltop’s People’s Park on Thursday morning, the 60-year-old said she was playing a waiting game to move into one of the micro units in a new shelter off Martin Luther King Jr. Way.
“I feel very blessed to be one of the first ones here to get a bed,” Davis said.
A micro shelter with 22 units hosting 35 people opened for the first time Thursday.
Meanwhile, volunteers, service providers and about a dozen police showed to help transition people from the People’s Park encampment, which has been a sore point for months.
As of Thursday morning, about six people had moved into the micro shelter, said Allyson Griffith, neighborhood enhancement team manager for the city of Tacoma. She estimated between 40-50 people were still at the park.
Griffith said the city would reconvene Thursday night to see how many people have been moved and what was left to do.
Smooth transition
Comprehensive Life Resources, RISE Center and Recovery Cafe helped with the transition.
Things appeared to be going smoothly Thursday morning, said Tacoma Police Department spokeswoman Loretta Cool.
Several people living at the encampment were cleaning around their tents and moving their belongings into recycling bins.
“People are methodically deciding what they want to keep,” Cool said.
The belongings packed away were moved several blocks via truck, where they were put in storage for those living at the micro shelter.
Other shelters
Those people camping at People’s Park who aren’t moving to the micro shelter will be offered shelter at any other site that has open beds, Cool said.
For some, that means moving to the stability site or to Bethlehem Baptist Church, which will open up to 40 beds starting Monday.
Cool said those staying at the park will not be told to move unless there is shelter available in order to comply with Martin vs. Boise, which protects people’s right to sleep on a sidewalk or public park if no shelter is available. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case earlier this week, leaving cities and jurisdictions across the country to comply with the law.
Those staying at the People’s Park camp will be given several chances to take an offer of open shelter, Cool said. Those who continue to refuse shelter will eventually be arrested for trespassing.
Nervousness, excitement
While she hasn’t seen inside her unit at the new shelter yet, Davis said the outside of the shelters, which are painted by volunteers, are “beautiful.”
Still, Davis thinks a lot about those who won’t be moving into the new shelter.
“They’ve gotten comfortable,” she said about those staying at People’s Park.
Kalina Miller, 38, is moving from People’s Park to the city’s stability site off Puyallup Avenue, but says the micro shelter is a good start to tackle a larger solution: funding housing. That means including those with chemical dependencies, she said.
“The problem is the stipulations and the requirements and the eligibility (of shelters),” she said.
Khalihla Shaw, 34, is moving into the new micro shelter and will be there for 22 days before moving into an apartment. She said she’s a bit nervous about the move.
“I was kind of scared, just because a new thing — rules, curfew, things like that,” she said.
The shelter requires residents to sign a code of conduct agreement to no alcohol or drug use and participating in various shelter chores, like cleaning up.
Shaw said following the rules of the shelter won’t be a problem for her, but that others might struggle.
“They like their freedom too much — they like to come and go as they want. So that’s going to be hard for them,” she said.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 2:53 PM.
