A small group of Port Townsend’s homeless population are currently in limbo after they were ordered to leave the Jefferson County Fairground campgrounds last week to make way for incoming tourist campers.
After the Jefferson County Board of Health decided to open camping June 19, the homeless people sleeping in tents at the fairgrounds were given five days to leave under the agreement between Olympic Community Action Programs and the Fairgrounds Board.
After housing a portion of the homeless population in the Tides Inn, Olycap signed an agreement for use of the Erickson Building at the fairgrounds as a makeshift shelter plus space for overflow in the campgrounds.
Olycap agreed to pay $16,000 a month for use of both spaces, said Cherish Cronmiller, Olycap director.
But in order to secure the agreement, Cronmiller said she had to agree to a five-day move-out notice period once camping reopened in the county.
Those not staying in the Erickson Building had two options: take a bed in the Erickson where they would have less freedom of movement and may not have been able to bring their pets; or find somewhere else to set up their tents on their own, which many did.
A group of four tents have been raised for the homeless outside behind the Haines Street cottages managed by Olycap. Cronmiller said this site is only temporary until they can figure out a more permanent location.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, Olycap was awarded $345,000 by the state to fund emergency housing for the homeless. Not only would the emergency housing serve as protection for the homeless population so they could quarantine, but it would also serve to protect the health of the community by potentially preventing an outbreak.
That money has all but run out, Cronmiller said, and by August, Olycap will have to relocate the homeless for a third time back to the American Legion basement where cramped conditions and poor air circulation will make it near impossible to ensure the health of the guests and volunteers.
“It is so upsetting to me that in such an affluent community 30 to 40 people are being shoved in a basement,” Cronmiller said. “It is unfortunate that money is what stands between us and providing support for these people.”
The majority of the state grant was spent on food, Cronmiller said. When operating the American Legion winter shelter, the homeless were being supplemented with snack bags. Once they were moved to the Tides Inn and asked to stay in their own rooms all day, Olycap began providing three meals a day.
Because of the lack of funds, this service, which was continued at the fairgrounds, will have to go away, Cronmiller said.
Brian Thompson, a 50-year-old homeless man who is now staying at the Haines Street cottages, said he feels like he can not escape the stigma of being homeless. Last week, Thompson said he was told all day repeatedly that if he did not leave the fairgrounds by 5 p.m. June 24, Olycap staff would call the police to cite him for trespassing and have him and his belongings removed.
Thompson and his companion Elizabeth Chorneau were adamant that they would not leave with nowhere else to go.
“They want to throw us out with nothing,” Thompson said last Wednesday. “We’re not trespassing, we were brought here.”
Going to a homeless encampment was not an option, he said. Trekking into one every day was not possible for him because he has back problems, he said, nor did he believe they were safe since they are often dirty and have no access to clean water.
Late last Wednesday, as the 5 p.m. deadline loomed, Thompson and Cherneau were informed they would be moved to the Haines Street cottages. Thompson said he saw it as a victory for them, and he is happy since they will still have access to a bathroom, a shower and power to charge his phone.
“If a rental place was going to call me I need to have my phone charged,” he said. “I would like to have a home, a place where I can have my dogs and can lock the door. But there is nowhere for us.”
The standoff was reminiscent of a nearly identical situation that occurred in 2015 when a group of homeless people created a tent city in the fairgrounds after the American Legion shelter closed for the summer. Fairgrounds policy says campers can only stay in one campground for 10 days, but at the time, the homeless refused to leave.
Thompson said he inquired about using what modest income he has to pay for a spot at the fairgrounds like anyone else, but he was told he would have to move out until July 1, then pay $17 a night and completely move out again every 10 days for 48 hours.
The only permanent solution, Cronmiller said, is creating supportive housing for the homeless population.
This could come in the form of Olycap’s 43-unit apartment building project which stalled this year after it failed to acquire the necessary federal funding to begin construction. The project, which is located at 7th and Hendricks Street in Port Townsend, was waitlisted and Olycap plans to reapply next year.
