Anger as HUNDREDS of tiny houses meant to house the homeless in Seattle are locked in storage as sprawling encampments grow

Seattle residents are outraged after hundreds of tiny homes intended to house the homeless are locked in storage as sprawling homeless camps grow.

The King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), the agency charged with coordinating the city’s homeless services, has been on the run because of the delay in deploying the miniature homes.

Komo News revealed that there are at least 204 unused houses locked up and guarded by a fence, leaving people sleeping on the street.

The video shows rows of tiny houses standing empty, prompting audiences to demand answers.

“There are 200 unused tiny houses in a locked storage yard in SODO. There are homeless camps off site and we are trying to get answers as to why these acclaimed shelters are empty,” the caption reads.

About 100 of these tiny houses on the lot are earmarked for four new tiny home villages managed by the Low-Income Housing Institute (LIHI) by the end of the year, leaving more than 100 on the storage lot.

Seattle’s homeless population grew nearly 38 percent from 2020 to 2022, with about 7,620 people reportedly living outside in King County.

A Seattle Times/Suffolk University poll conducted last month found that nearly 60 percent of Seattle residents say the crisis has gotten worse over the past three years.

Sound Foundations Northwest founder Barb Oliver expressed a willingness to build even more homes.

KCRHA plans to add just 50 tiny houses to its homeless services portfolio by the end of 2024, costing $3.1 million for development, case management, and property management.

According to KCRHA, the challenge to deploy more homes is to find suitable locations for the tiny home villages.

“Just find more land,” one resident told Komo News. “And find it soon.”

Anne Martens, spokesperson for KCRHA, stressed that moving more people indoors depends on available spaces and community support for shelter and housing.

“As always, the ability to move more people indoors depends on the availability of places for people to go, and community support for more shelter and housing is key to solving homelessness,” she told KOMO News.

“At the end of the day, we clearly need more tiny houses,” Seattle City Councilman Andrew Lewis said earlier this year.

“This is clearly the policy intervention that we can implement the fastest, that has the most benefit and the most reasonable price,” he added.

But with the small house break and the expansion of homeless camps around Seattle, community members are fed up.

Even in locations that want to house small home villages, getting them remains a challenge.

The roadside church in Tukwila wanted to house a village, but delays have frustrated their efforts.

“That’s the business of the church, serving humanity, so we’re here. We still have room for 30 to 50 tiny houses and as you can see, the space is empty,’ Pastor Terrance Proctor told KOMO News on Thursday.

“Part of me wants to be understanding, but the more I understand, the more frustrating it is, because it doesn’t have to be this sticking point.”

Proctor said he has been told many times that the small native village will be finished soon, but the plans never materialize.

‘Personally it’s frustrating, because I helped build about 12 of those little houses. I think we can work a little more efficiently if getting it done is more important than who gets credit for it,” he said.

LIHI began building Tiny House Shelters in 2015 to address homelessness, providing safer, weatherproof, lockable alternatives to tents, providing residents with dignity and pathways to housing, employment and support services.

Seattle’s 328 tiny houses are primarily managed by the non-profit Low Income Housing Institute.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, members of an affluent Seattle neighborhood became enraged at homeless people setting up a swimming pool at their encampment.

The expansion of the encampments sparked outrage among homeowners, who were frustrated that officials had not removed it.

The addition caused consternation in Highland Park, known for its high median home price of nearly $600,000.

In early July, DailyMail.com reported that a July 4 parade had to be diverted to avoid a fentanyl-riddled homeless camp for “the safety of everyone.”

The parade in Burien, just south of Seattle, was modified to avoid a homeless encampment of up to 20 tents, according to local media.

Like the residents of Highland Park, Burien is unable to remove the encampment due to the bureaucracy surrounding the process.

Some business owners in the city also told local outlets that they had lost customers because they no longer felt ‘safe’.

Last month, the Seattle City Council voted not to pass legislation that would have allowed the city’s attorney to prosecute public drug abuse cases.

The move would have brought Seattle into compliance with the state’s new drug possession law, making the crime a gross misdemeanor.

Within hours, pictures of homeless people openly abusing drugs appeared on the city streets.

One shows a man using a hypodermic needle to inject drugs into his hand while standing outside a liquor store.

The council’s bill failed to pass by a 5–4 vote, with council members Alex Pedersen, Sara Nelson, Debora Juarez, and Dan Strauss voting in favor of the bill.