Dow Promises the Burien Courthouse Camp will be Vacant by September 30

Martin Barrett

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August 22, 2024

During an August 14, 2024 town hall in West Seattle, King County Executive Dow Constantine stated that the tent encampment on County land next to the Courthouse in Burien would be cleared within 4 to 6 weeks. This would make the latest last tent removed day be September 30, 2024.

[90 second video - excerpt of full video below]:

Currently, there are 74 tents on the property, so for Dow to keep his promise, approximately two tents per day would need to be removed, and the residents "housed," with no additional homeless people moving in and filling the vacancy.

According to a KOMO News article on August 20, 2024, a man living in the encampment stated, "five people get in there [DESC], 10 people come in to fill space in here, so it’s getting bad because everybody from different cities come here.”

This means that the number of tents is growing, not decreasing.

A new DESC Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) facility opened in Burien this spring, but according to DESC and homeless campers, some of the residents are choosing to spend significant time in the homeless camp, instead of in their new supportive housing.

[30 second video]:

Burien.News reached out to both Constantine's office and REACH asking for the specific plan. Burien.News specifically asked REACH if they intended to use different methods than those employed in clearing Burien streets when they were contracted with Burien. REACH did not demonstrate effectiveness over the last several years in solving the Burien problem. Not until the City of Burien contracted with How We Love were tent campers successfully moved to shelters and treatment.

At time of publishing, neither REACH nor Dow's office have responded.

Constantine stated "definitively" to the county leaders at the Town Hall, “we did not establish the encampment at the District Court parking lot in Burien. People came to that site." According to Constantine, it put the County in the position of housing them or "kicking them out and having them go back to the streets in Burien."

However, this situation is a result of Constantine refusing to follow US and State Supreme Court decisions that allow local governments to enforce ordinances to keep their cities safe and orderly. Rather than honor the decisions from the highest courts the County Sheriff continues in its lawsuit against the City of Burien for adopting camping restrictions on public property.

At least they are consistent. The County is not enforcing laws on County land either, creating and enabling a cruel and heartless cesspool of brokenness, addiction, and trafficking.

Constantine sought to push responsibility onto Burien during the town hall meeting. He painted Burien leaders as ungrateful and irresponsible for failing to use the County's offer of a tiny home village and a million dollars. He attempted to make the County the savior of Burien's homeless problem. (See full video below)

During the presentation, Constantine stated that the sanitation and porta-potties were brought in at the request of the Burien City Manager. This contradicts the email correspondence cited by the City of Burien. We have asked Constantine's office for documentation on this. At time of publishing, no proof has been offered to substantiate Constantine's claim.

In a final effort to wash the County's hands of this encampment, Constantine revisited the $1 million in funding and 35 tiny homes offered by the County to Burien last year. The tiny home village was to be controlled by the Regional Homelessness Authority who would decide who would live in those homes made up of largely non-Burien residents.

The Burien City Council turned down the offer, in part, because the projected cost to administrate the village was such that the funds from the County would be used up in 3 to 4 months, leaving the city holding the financial bag for a County problem.

Additionally, Burien did not have a properly zoned site at the time, and therefore, could not legally set up a village. We asked Constantine's office to share the County's financial model to sustain the tiny home village. At time of publishing, no information had been received.

Burien.News will closely track the progress in anticipation of a September 30 conclusion that will move all the inhabitants into shelters and rehab, stop the theft and violence that has escalated with the growth of the camp, and restore the damaged wetland.

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