During the agenda-setting meeting earlier today, Homeless Prevention and Affordable Housing Coordinator Keylee Marineau reported that 15 more beds are available at the Maple Court homeless encampment.
The homeless people residing in Maple Court came from the Sleater-Kinney Road encampment.
The county will transfer the additional homeless from the Sleater-Kinney encampment to the empty spaces in Maple Court.
“They [housing institute] have some work to do. They're waiting for the first floor– they've hit a snag and getting those ready for folks,” said Marineau.
“They do not intend to move anyone from Sleater-Kinney this week into Maple Court, but will complete the closing of the Sleater-Kinney camp next week by moving in the remaining nine or so people that are in the encampments,” Marineau added.
Marineau also reported that they had divided the homeless encampment in Wheeler Avenue into sections to be cleared weekly, and they already gave the section numbers to the people in the camp.
“The Wheeler camp will start moving residents into the Franz Anderson Tiny Home as soon as next week. And that process should take three or four weeks for that camp to be completely cleaned,” said Marineau.
“There's [a] conversation about who to prioritize next. At this point, I believe they are considering prioritization of the Nickerson camp, which is on the same road as Wheeler,” Marineau added.
The commissioners asked whether the prioritization would be done by assessing how long the homeless person has lived in the area. Marineau clarified that it would be based on their vulnerability.
“Our prioritization processes are based on vulnerability. There's an assessment that goes through coordinated entry. And one of those criteria is not how long they've lived in Thurston County, but rather how vulnerable they are to living outside,” explained Marineau.
Marineau projected that the camps in Sleater-Kinney and Wheeler will be cleared entirely, with all eligible individuals and households housed in either the Tiny Home Village or Maple Court.
