Thursday, October 1, 2026
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The City of Olympia has already moved more than a dozen people from "The Jungle" into temporary or permanent housing, but officials said closing the sprawling encampment site could take years to complete.
Assistant City Manager Stacey Ray presented an update on the transition process at a city council meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 25.
She said about 275 people currently live at a 20-acre encampment, which is the city's last remaining established homeless encampment and one of the largest in Washington.
The city is taking a regional approach to the issue, working with Thurston County and other local partners to coordinate housing, services and resources.
The process began with a by-name list of 290 residents. Ray said the first group of residents being transitioned is expected to reach about 22 housing placements.
Rather than moving residents all at once, the city is transitioning people in smaller groups as housing becomes available throughout the regional system.
“Once we are able to move folks into housing, they stay,” Ray said.
She noted residents placed in permanent supportive housing often require long-term wraparound services and case management, limiting turnover in those units.
To create more movement in the housing system, the Regional Housing Council has backed a proposal for a housing navigator, who would help residents in lower-barrier housing move into subsidized, permanent supportive or low-income housing as they stabilize. That could open lower-barrier units for people moving directly from the streets.
The city is also using vulnerability assessments to determine housing and service needs. Ray said 129 residents had completed assessments, including 55 completed by the Family Support Center.
The Jungle is designated under the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Encampment Resolution Program, which provides housing resources for established residents of encampments targeted for closure. Under the program, the city’s by-name list is closed, and residents on the list must be offered a reasonable housing option as sections of the encampment are shuttered.
People who arrive after the list was established will not be added to it, but city outreach workers will continue connecting them with Thurston County’s coordinated entry system and other services.
Program-funded units are reserved for people on The Jungle’s by-name list, while others can be assessed through coordinated entry and connected with housing when openings become available.
Olympia plans to close the encampment in sections, as residents are housed rather than clearing the entire site at once. The city will combine geographic areas with vulnerability assessments to prioritize residents with the greatest needs.
Once a section is cleared, that part of The Jungle will be permanently closed and monitored to prevent camping from returning.
Services will continue during the transition, including regular garbage collection, portable restrooms and quarterly cleanups.
Providence St. Peter Hospital is also expected to bring a mobile medical unit to the site, while community partners will continue providing sanitation assistance and survival supplies.
The transition will also include a more regular presence from the Olympia Police Department.
Police Chief Shelby Parker said neighborhood officers and crisis-response personnel will take a relationship-based approach focused on safety and connecting residents with services.
“It is not an effort to accelerate closure of the camp through enforcement, and it is not about criminalizing homelessness,” Parker said.
Police presence will begin at about two days a week and will be coordinated with homeless response staff so it does not interfere with housing assessments.
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TheVirtualOne
"The problem with incompetence is its inability to recognize itself."
— Orrin Woodward
Wednesday, August 26 Report this
Tanker1982
Sad.
Wednesday, August 26 Report this
JW
It will take years? Got to keep the grift going
Wednesday, August 26 Report this
RitaRose
I appreciate the thoughtful planning on this difficult change. Local governments need to work together and that's happening here.
Wednesday, August 26 Report this
Honestyandrealityguy
As our taxes go up to pay their rent, seems that Olympia should be trying to train/help the folks so they could get employment and their own places to live? When this happened in the 60's, the services drafted most of them. Guess what, no more hippies? Common sense please.
Wednesday, August 26 Report this
MJGord
Orrin & JW? I don't like it either. I wish they could be a forced get off of booze & drugs then deal with the mental stuff. It is quite tangled up. The housing is to slow.
But get up & volunteer or something (or even good heavens , run for office!) sitting in a chair griping just adds to the load. They already know we don't like it. Add positiveness.
Thursday, August 27 Report this
jimLacey
"Once a section is cleared, that part of The Jungle will be permanently closed and monitored to prevent camping from returning. "
If we have the ability to do that, how did we end up with the Jungle and other camps to begin with?
Thursday, August 27 Report this
Patriot
This will never end. The more you move out the more move in. The word is out, there are no laws enforced in Olympia and that is why they keep coming. They all know that. Unless we get new leadership (or any leadership) in Olympia this problem will be here forever and continue to get worse.
Thursday, August 27 Report this
DalePutnam
As the "list" has been closed, can we hope the city is assuring no new residents are being allowed? If not, why not?
Thursday, August 27 Report this
hptrillium
We have homeless encampments because living expenses have gone up and we don't have enough affordable housing to accomodate everyone who needs it. Just because you have been lucky enough to get help when you needed it to avoid being homeless or were lucky enough never to need help doesn't mean that you are better than the people who have fallen through the cracks in our system.
I thank the Olympia City Council for working on this very hard problem in the best way that they can.
Have any of you who are bad mouthing the homeless actually gotten to know them and their struggles?
Thursday, August 27 Report this
Boatyarddog
TheVirtualOne. The Same Can Be Said Of INTOLERANCE.
Thursday, August 27 Report this
TheVirtualOne
BYD - You appear to be exhibiting the very word you capitalized. Took a connecting flight to a completely different topic, along with an incomprehensible message. Happy birthday!
Thursday, August 27 Report this
TheVirtualOne
hptrillium - I think you completely missed the point of the posters. It’s the city, county, and state governments that are the real culprits.
Thursday, August 27 Report this
KinesthesiaAmnesia
I was in the Jungle area last night. I had stops or errands along all sides of it (Pacific, Martin, Franz-And). Pacific and Martin had a lot of extra people I recognize as Jungle residents wandering on (and in) the streets. Was briefly visiting an office along the Franz-Anderson side where my husband used to work. It's next to one of the gravel driveways that goes in and out of the Jungle. Saw several people dragging tent supplies and large pieces of scrap metal down the dusty driveway and into the Jungle woods. But nobody coming out of it. Two people were emptying out what looked like stolen purses while simultaneously having public *** under the big tree by the fire station along Lilly. My driver honked and waved at some firefighters there but I'm guessing there's only so much that they can reasonably do. A few guys walking to the Jungle got mad we were honking about their buddies under the tree, and tried to approach our car. The Jungle is beyond unsafe for the whole community, housed or not. I have no faith that the city of Olympia and its business partners are closing the Jungle anytime soon.
Saturday, August 29 Report this
Drivel
The city of Santa Rosa, CA, opened its fairgrounds to tackle homelessness.
IDK the details, like what they do when the fair is happening.
BTW, providing housing first is key to solving the problem of homelessness. It was instituted here after, I think, the city of Dallas, TX, or was it Houston, proved it works!
And I have to say that, yes, some homeless people are addicts, thieves, and just lazy people.
Not ALL of them!
I lost my job recently because of the federal government cuts in education and research. I am lucky; I live in a house my son owns.
Monday, August 31 Report this