The permit for the Nickelsville encampment (2826 NW Market St.) was issued last Thursday and organizers wasted no time in setting up the camp.

Nickelsville and the Low Income Housing Institute hosted a moving-in work and welcome party last Saturday Nov. 21 and invited the community to meet their new neighbors. Deputy Mayor Hyeok Kim was at the welcoming party and visited with the community and helped serve lunch.

Around 50 volunteers joined Nickelsville staff and residents to construct the platforms for the tents and the large kitchen/community tent. New lumber for the platforms was purchased from Home Depot with funds from Low Income Housing Institute and the City.

The start up budget for the Ballard site is $17,000 and the City is providing $7,600. The annual operating cost of the site is $162,000 and the city is providing roughly $68,000. Nickelsville is covering rest of the costs with some assistance from LIHI.

Five houses were moved to the site the day after the permit was issues. Sawhorse Revolution, Youthbuild, and the Tulalip Tribes donated the houses to Nickelsville. They were placed on the frontage side of the encampment. Portable toilets were also placed at the site.

Nickelsville resident constructing at platform for a tent at the Ballard encampment.

The encampment is situated with the five tiny houses closest to the street and behind them are three rows of four tents. On the backside to the north is the large kitchen/community tent. There is space on the west side of the encampment reserved for families with larger tents. The portable toilets are on the west side of the encampment toward N.W. Market Street. There is a sloping embankment to the north, and Nickelsville reported that the Department of Planning and Development is concerned that the kitchen/community tent could be at risk if a landslide occurred, and so the tent is set back from the slope.

Kitty Deberry, a Nickelsville resident, was setting up a tent when the Ballard News-Tribune visited the encampment. Deberry has been a resident at Nickelville for three years and known as the “voice of reason” among residents.

“Once we have the tents set up it will be a uniform looking place,” said Deberry.

Deberry said she was pleased with the new supplies and the number of volunteers that turned out to help.

“For the first time we have supplies. When we come here we can build brand new stuff. Most of the time in the past we’ve been living off our own resources, and a lot of the time it was second hand, given to us or broken. This is really cool. For the first time we have brand new stuff.”

About a dozen campers stayed at the encampment the first night, and half of them moved from the Nickelsville Dearborn site.

Last week seven squatters were camping at the site and Nickelsville staff asked them to leave, but also invited them to become residents once the encampment is set up. Nickelsville reported that at least three of those individuals inquired about residency. Nickelsville anticipates the camp will be full within two weeks. The encampment has capacity for 50 people, but only if some of those individuals are couples or families sharing a tent.

Deberry reported that she feels the Ballard community has been very welcoming but has had a less than welcoming response from a nearby business. Deberry said that it’s their loss because the encampment residents could be potential customers.

“All we can do is prove to people by being here that we are not going to be a problem. A lot of people have this crazy idea of us and think we are maniacs but in reality, we are just trying to get by.”

“I think when people (Nickelsville residents) realize that this is a nice looking set up it will give them hope and help them feel like a part of the community, and I see that that’s what these people have never had, a sense of community and told for the last twenty years that what they are doing doesn’t count and that they’re not good enough, and most of them have been trying for their whole lives to be better or something they’re not.”

Into the night volunteers and Ballard community members visited the encampment. Some just stopped and looked around the site. Others dropped off food or tools and chatted with residents.

“If you get to know us on a one to one basis you’ll find out we are really good people. Some of us are a little odd people but some of my best friends are odd people.”

“Some people with houses are odd, too,” said Taran Morgan, a neighborhood resident.

Morgan is part of Sleepless in Seattle, a team of over 250 volunteers who were donating 4,000 sleeping bags through out King County and Seattle that night. The team dropped by the encampment to donate winter gear to anyone in need.

Morgan said that he was impressed with the construction of the encampment and with the solidarity shared by volunteers.

“I’m really glad that this is here, and I really didn’t expect this. I didn’t expect the organization and the compassion, and the fact that people are working together. It makes a difference.”

Morgan said he plans to volunteer at the encampment in the future.

“I live in this neighborhood, and if I can’t help anybody who has a problem then ultimately it affects me.”