New deal to close homeless camp in heart of Seattle

SEATTLE — Located in the plaza next to the King County Administration Building, Tent City 6 has been both a home for the homeless and a protest statement by the homeless advocacy group called SHARE.

"This place, we built a community. We took care of one another," said homeless resident Lilli Cox.

Stu Tanquist is also homeless and a board member of SHARE.

He said the tent city was deliberately located in this King County plaza to get the attention of elected leaders.

"The county cut us off, King County two years ago, and we've been struggling ever since. And ended up closing 13 of our 15 indoor shelters," said Tanquist.

Now, after five months of camping here, residents are cleaning up and getting ready to leave.

Tanquist says King County is now contributing $50,000 to reopen the indoor shelters,  and the city of Seattle will allow SHARE to access up to $220,000.

That's enough to allow SHARE to open 11 indoor shelters at churches, which they plan to do on Monday.

To eliminate past mistrust between the government and SHARE, Catholic Community Services will now oversee the money.

"They've agreed to serve as our fiscal trustee and so money goes to them, through them, to us," Tanquist said.

There will be room at the indoor shelters for everyone at the plaza, but not everyone we met is choosing an indoor shelter.

“I’ll probably choose another tent city. That's what I like better,” said Lilli Cox.

When asked why, she responded, “Here it's like we can get a job, there's no curfew so you can work at night if you like and, like I said, you are socialized with people that are like you, and you guys pull each other up.”

Cox Media Group