NEWSBYINDY

Nickelsville, the self-sufficient tent city in Seattle that has been working towards making things better for those who are homeless but not helpless, moved into a new location this week. While residents, who call themselves Nickelodeans, wait to hear about a permanent location, they settled in for a six-month stay at an old firehouse. As expected, neighbors aren't happy.

Previously, Nickelsville issued a proclamation of a state of emergency. The camp's residents openly acknowledge that they are the disabled, the mentally ill, the unemployable or the too old and too poor to matter. They'll also tell you that things are getting worse, not better, despite the existence of Seattle's 10-year plan to end homelessness.

Budget cuts have reduced the funding for human services by 46 percent. Funding for youth shelter has been eliminated, along with many other programs as Washington State faces a budget crisis. Nickelsville has been working with the Mayor's Office to find a permanent site for the tent city so that residents can have a sense of stability moving forward. Tent cities might not be the most ideal option for the homeless, but they can be the best thing available in tough economic times. They're certainly better than the streets.

Tell Seattle to find a permanent location for Nickelsville now!

Although the city of Seattle has mapped out seven potential permanent sites for the self-sustaining tent city of Nickelsville, residents, or "Nickelodeons," are very well aware of the discrimination that local homeless people face every day.

Fear tends to be the emotion expressed the loudest, as neighbors cry out "not in my backyard!" at the thought of tents popping up next to their pools. In an effort to address this issue, Nickelsville held a Halloween Open House on the afternoon of Halloween. The event included a tour and one-on-one chats with residents to help future neighbors quell their fears of the unknown by getting to know the tent-dwellers.

Nickelodeons understand that no matter which site is chosen, someone will be upset. What better time than now to ask friends and supporters to educate those who have misplaced fears about Nickelsville? They can tell people, for instance, that a Nickelsville resident has never caused harm to a neighbor, no matter where the regularly moving Nickelsville was located. Other neighbors have quickly learned that campers are quiet and pose no threats. The only thing Nickelodeons are asking for is to be given a chance. An open letter and invitation to attend Nickelsville's Halloween Open House tells neighbors to "be there or be scared."

A long-awaited meeting at Seattle City Hall gave encouragement to the city's homeless population this week. Mayor Mike McGinn's Citizen's Review Panel unanimously voted to find a permanent location for Nickelsville, the self-sufficient tent city.

To the delight of everyone present, the panel members showed they recognized that the city's policies should be geared towards allowing people to stay where they are as long as they do not interfere with other's rights or are a disturbance to the peace.

Several recommendations were made, including the creation of safety zones for homeless campers, people who sleep outdoors or in their cars. Overnight shelters should have more priority than those provided during the daytime along with expanding shelter capacities in buildings owned by government. A staff person from Nickelsville will be at the deputy mayor's office to set up a meeting about  finding a permanent site quickly as the deadline for the tent city to move again is November 15th. Residents, or "Nickelodeons," were told that a meeting with the mayor would follow the "Encampment Panel's" vote. Tell Seattle to find a permanent location for Nickelsville, and soon!

The steps being taken by the mayor's office show recognition that Seattle has a homeless emergency crisis. Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith mentioned that the mayor's office will not divulge the list of sites being looked at until members of the panel have a chance to review them. Weather conditions have recently worsened and the city is expected to respond by providing emergency shelter at the Frye Hotel and City Hall downtown.

Late last week, I rounded up my kids and hopped on a bus headed towards the Tacoma Dome to attend this year's Project Homeless Connect. I got the opportunity to meet and talk with Ellie Ottey who has been helping to coordinate this volunteer-led event for the last four years.

"We actually do this on an incident command structure which is a way to respond to a natural disaster and we do view homelessness as a disaster," she told me. "There is an incident commander and under that there is a core team of about four or five people that works out the logistics. Under that there are 18 team leaders and each of them is responsible for recruiting volunteers who will be working in their sections, i.e., childcare, medical, vision, dental, etc. Each lead then reports back to the logistics commander so that he/she can determine what resources they will need. We then have regular meetings from May until about September."

Reminds me of the military, I said. "It is!" she exclaimed. "It really is a well organized way to respond to a disastrous event." Then I asked Ellie what made her decide to volunteer for Project Homeless Connect in the first place and she explained that she had been the chair for the Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness' continuum of care. "I took the responsibility because I've actually been involved with housing for disenfranchised populations all my working life and things aren't getting any better, they're getting worse. I noticed a lot of 16-25-year-olds here, never have I seen that many before."

Maybe it has a little something to do with the lack of availability of housing vouchers in Pierce County? Yep. "The federal government hasn't raised the number of available housing vouchers yet there are tens of thousands of people who need them," Ellie explained. "Our lists haven't been open for three years. Every time we open our lists, thousands of people show up but they're showing up to sit on the lists. The people we have on the waiting lists now have been waiting a minimum of three years and it's heartbreaking."

In 2008, a pattern of brutal sexual assaults on homeless women in South Seattle's Industrial area began emerging from police reports. Victims described their attacker as a fat bald man with rotting teeth. All of the victims were homeless and actively using drugs, which gave their attacker an avenue in which to approach them. He offered drugs to the women before leading them to secluded areas to beat and rape them.

There is an area known as "The Tubes" located south of Seattle at the intersection of South Spokane Street and 2nd Avenue South where many homeless people live. They often sleep on pallets. One victim had fallen asleep on hers after taking some heroin offered to her. She woke up later to find a man on top of her holding a knife to her throat saying that he would kill her if she didn't remove her clothes.

Another woman who had been living out of the abandoned concrete tubes turned herself into the police even though she had outstanding warrants for her arrest. She too had been brutally assaulted by the same individual but wanted the attacks against women to stop. Even though she admits to being a cocaine and heroin user, she and the other homeless women are no less deserving of justice.

The Seattle Police Department began its investigation into the crimes and eventually pinned the attacks on one man, Reginald Breaux. He was captured in January 2009 and sentenced just last week after pleading guilty to first-degree rape with a deadly weapon, second-degree rape and attempted first-degree rape.

Here's a homeless outreach event that doesn't presume to know what people's needs are:

Next Thursday, Oct. 14, the Tacoma Dome will host the area's 2010 Project Homeless Connect. This year, the program hopes to help 750 people. At this event, homeless people can access a variety of services such as medical, dental and vision. The offerings also include haircuts, pet care, rapid HIV testing, flu shots and a host of other things geared towards helping homeless people have a better life. Even round-trip transportation is provided to get homeless people to the event.

The interesting thing about this project is that it's run by volunteers. In fact, they're the one who serve as greeters at the door. When homeless people walk in, the first thing they're asked to do is name the three most important needs they have. The volunteers then help people navigate their way to the needed services. Each service provider will record the number of clients they see along with the types of services provided. The information collected helps the program find out who is getting served so that future needs can be addressed. Secure on-site childcare is offered to ensure that parents can get to the services they need. If you've been to Homeless Connect events in other areas, let us know in the comments if they were as user-centric.

Art Linkletter's old television show is a far cry from what homeless kids have to say. There is a place in Seattle where homeless youth can go called Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets (PSKS). Peace is what they'll find here. Located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, PSKS has been a safe haven since 1995. It was through them that I learned that many of the city's homeless youth are not from Seattle.

Are you in the mood for donuts? Try watching a video that captures the dialogue between Seattle police officers and homeless youth. Even better, listen to what these young people have to say about being homeless.

PSKS considers its program to be the last stop for those who come in since many of the youth here have addiction problems. One of the goals of PSKS is to get homeless young people off the streets by empowering them with tools to prepare them for a better future life. One of those tools is H.Y.P.E. (Homeless Youth for Peace and Empowerment). This day program offers workshops, outreach, community meetings and slumber parties to count squatters. The center offers light lunches and healthy snacks along with badly needed services such as a telephone, internet services and an address.

Every year, PSKS holds a memorial to remember its "lost angels." As a candle is passed to each person, he or she has an opportunity to speak a few words about who has been lost. These youth need to hear this. They need to know that they are wanted and there are people out in the world who genuinely care about them and would hold a vigil for them, but dread the thought.

I recently decided to check out Nickelsville, a self-governing tent city in Seattle, because I might find myself there one day. It was as simple as calling the number on the Nickelsville website. A man named Nate told me I could come down between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Nickelsville is currently located at the University Congregational United Church of Christ's parking lot. The first thing I noticed here wasn't the rows of tents — it was that the place is incredibly clean. I saw a man and his dog sitting behind a couple of old school desks and told him I was looking for Nate. "You mean Alter-Nate?" he asked. Apparently there were three different Nates but the one I spoke to is nicknamed Alter-Nate. Thank goodness I didn't meet Procrasti-Nate, since the folks at Nickelsville told me the name aptly fit the gentleman they gave it to.

Alter-Nate was very gracious and agreed to give me a tour. I followed him through a row of tents marked with numbered paper plates that serve as addresses down to a common area, an outdoor kitchen pantry that needed restocking and over to where the portable toilets were. Nate showed me a bike he converted into an electricity generator that he calls the "Cyclotron." The residents can use it to recharge their laptops, phones and so on. It was damaged in the last move (the city requires the camp to move from time to time) but Nate is busily repairing it. I believe they have or had a generator but could only run it twice a day and only if they really, really had to. Buying propane gas takes a large chunk out of the Nickelsville fund.

Other than the noise of the nearby street, Nickelsville is quiet. The 90 folks who live here are clean and look like everyone else. I got invited to sit in the common area and talk with people. I saw a family with two children making dinner on one of the grills. If I do have to come here, at least I know they take families (and pets). Most shelters will take men only or women and children only.

I recently read something surprising on a website for tourists traveling to my hometown of Seattle. It would seem that travelers need to be warned about the number of homeless people panhandling for money. Incredibly, the person who posted the warning thought she was doing a service to people by recommending that scraps from the restaurants they visit be given to panhandlers, as that would be fulfilling a responsibility not to waste food and of course, help those in need.

Reading through the posts, I found one commenter who said, "Apparently, the temperate climate and moderate winters attract those without a home."

What else is out there regarding Seattle's panhandlers? On Yelp, there's a question and answer forum asking where the panhandlers are in my city. People on it talk about spotting homeless beggars as if it's a spectator sport. One poster commented that he felt like he was a character in a video game trying to avoid all the panhandlers. Another fellow said, "It's such a shame when we can't even find the homeless, the panhandlers or the 'needy' when we want to give them leftover food."

Need more? Try this list of places to avoid in Seattle. The author mentions that although she doesn't want to label all homeless people and recognizes that stereotypes aren't true, she recommends that travelers avoid them whenever possible. Yes indeed. Wouldn't want any reality creeping in to ruin our vacation, would we?

If there's a need for forums for ignorant comments, I'd say sites like these do the job very well. If ever there was a forum to address the lack of knowledge most people have regarding the homeless who panhandle (not everyone who panhandles is homeless), I'd nominate the International Homeless Forum.

A friend suggested that I check out Habitat for Humanity's website to see if I could qualify for a house, since I've been without one for the past six years.

My heart sank when I looked at the selection criteria for Seattle. I don't even qualify to send in an application. Number two on the list is to "the ability to pay." I stopped there because that's the part where I won't qualify. Not only would I have to prove that I can afford monthly payments, but my income must be between 25 percent and 60 percent of King County's median income. That's between $19,275 and $46,260. In addition, I must be credit worthy. I don't have any bankruptcies but I don't have credit either. That's kind of hard to develop when you live out of a car.

I realize that Habitat does help those who fit the criteria become first-time homeowners. If I had a job and could afford to put some money aside to qualify, I would. But right now, it's just another opportunity that's not available. Even when I worked two jobs, the credit thing killed my chances of qualifying for mortgages. Paying for child care that exceeded my rent didn't help me save a dime.

Could there be other programs I might qualify for? I decided to go to the "families" section of the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) website to find out. The first thing I took issue with came in the third paragraph. "Homelessness among families is typically not a long term experience." Excuse me? I guess I'm atypical, because in my experience that just hasn't seemed true.