According to Mayor McGinn's blog, the search for a permanent homeless encampment some call "Nickelsville" is over. He had considered two West Seattle sites and five others, and has decided upon the site of the former Sunny Jim peanut butter factory that burned down Sept. 20.

We wrote a recent story about the search here: http://www.westseattleherald.com/2010/10/28/news/nickelsville-tent-city…

The SODO site is one block east of FedEx World Service Center, and two blocks east of both UPS and the quarter-mile long K2Sports headquarters, and four blocks east of Costco.

According to three employees reached at K2Sports, the area has recently attracted at least several old camper vans that park overnight and are suspected meth-labs. They were not sure if Nickelsville would be a positive or negative presence in the area's presumed drug trade as the encampment will forbid drugs and alcohol, at least on its premises.

Also, Nickelsville advocates need to find a new encampment by Sunday, Nov. 14, when their 90-day allowed tern expires at their current location, University Congregational United Church of Christ on 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 45th Street. The new permanent spot will not be ready until spring.

In a press release from Nickelsville advocates, they say:

We appreciate The Mayor's serious attention to this matter, as well as his recent proposal to use the burned-out Sunny Jim Peanut Factory site for Nickelsville or other homeless projects this spring. However, we can't wait 6 months through winter for approval and development of this idea. Nickelsville's self-organized, proven, safe shelter community needs a site right now. Nickelsville is moving to a permanent site this Sunday 11/14, regardless.

Here is the Mayor's statement:

http://mayormcginn.seattle.gov/considering-our-options-for-a-city-sanct…

In mid-August, I convened a citizen review panel to make recommendations to the City about our approach to homeless encampments. Experience tells us getting someone housed is the fastest and most effective way for a person to become self-sufficient. Unfortunately, we have not been able to keep up with the demand. Since the beginning of our participation in the 10-year Plan to End Homelessness, we have developed 3,344 units of housing for formerly homeless people. This is thanks in large part to the generosity of Seattle voters, who continually renew a large property tax levy to fund housing projects.

But despite that great progress, we still lack sufficient resources and facilities to meet the considerable needs of the unsheltered. In the most recent count, we found nearly 2,000 people on the streets between 2 and 5 a.m. Waiting lists for housing are long, and shelters can pose serious challenges to people trying to hold down a job or in need of a safe place to spend the day.

For more than a generation, the distribution of wealth and incomes among Americans has become increasingly unequal, and too many people are left behind by an economy that seems at times to have been designed to ignore them. We face a prolonged and severe economic downturn — the worst since the Great Depression. The current recession has cost many people their jobs, and, as a result, a place to live. On top of that, we’re expecting really bad weather this winter — so we’re truly facing an emergency here.

In late October, the panel made several recommendations, including one that is not without controversy: Seattle should put a permanent homeless encampment on City land.

I was intrigued by this suggestion, so we provided the panelists with a list of seven potential sites for a City-sanctioned homeless encampment of up to 100 to 150 people. City staff developed the list based on the size and uses of land owned by the city. A suitable site should accommodate on-site services geared toward moving residents to self-sufficiency.

A different opportunity has now presented itself that I believe is the most viable: the former Sunny Jim peanut butter factory, located in the SODO district at Airport Way South and South Snoqualmie Street. The City’s traffic signal and traffic sign shop occupies the south end of the site. The north end is now open because the building that housed the old peanut butter factory was destroyed by a fire a couple of months ago. The site will be cleared and graded flat, offering sufficient space to support an encampment and services for residents. We would seek a nonprofit or other organization to manage the encampment, providing services to residents and data to the City.

Creating a City-sanctioned homeless encampment won’t solve our problem. And it’s definitely a complicated undertaking. What’s more, when you consider the enormity of the problem, it’s just a small step. But it’s a step worth exploring.

I can’t say we’ll have all the pieces in place to open a homeless encampment at the SODO site by next month. But we are pushing as hard as we can. There are still hurdles to overcome but I am convinced this one small step will help our community respond to the crisis at hand.

In the meantime, I hope that you can join us at a community meeting in SODO before Thanksgiving. When we have a date and venue to announce for that meeting, we will do so on this blog.

I’ll keep you posted.