Dozens of South Seattle residents crowded into a Mount Baker meeting Tuesday night, demanding answers from city council members and police about what they described as a relentless public safety problem tied to shifting homeless encampments near the Mount Baker Transit Center and along Rainier Avenue South. Parents, preschool staff and small-business owners told officials that daily routines now feel risky, and that one-off encampment clearings have not delivered any lasting relief.
According to KOMO, the public safety meeting was led by Councilmembers Eddie Lin and Dionne Foster and featured briefings from the city’s Unified Care Team and the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program. Organizers said the session drew a full house of neighbors who want a clearer, faster game plan to tackle encampments and open-air drug use on city rights-of-way.
Neighbors want durable change
Hoa Mai Vietnamese Bilingual Preschool director Gloria Hodge, a familiar face to city officials at this point, told leaders the neighborhood is tired of “band-aid” cleanups and sporadic patrols that do not stick. Earlier reporting by KIRO detailed Hodge’s long-running appeals for encampment removal and heightened police presence after violent incidents near Mount Baker.
Police talk enforcement and outreach
Seattle police leaders told residents they have ramped up patrols in problem corridors, and KOMO reported Lt. Heidi Tuttle saying officers have made about 80 arrests in the area around 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street since June 3. The Seattle Police Department's blotter also notes recent narcotics operations and patrols in the 12th and Jackson corridor, signaling what officials describe as a sustained enforcement push; see the SPD blotter for operational details.
City teams step in on encampments
City officials pointed to the Unified Care Team, a cross-department effort formed to coordinate encampment response, cleanups and shelter referrals, as the main vehicle for outreach and removals in the area. The mayor’s office has described the team as an attempt to pull scattered efforts into one system, increase shelter referrals and deliver a more consistent, data-driven response to encampments across different neighborhoods.
LEAD and service-based responses
Councilmembers and outreach partners stressed that enforcement is supposed to come hand in hand with service offers and diversion options when appropriate, including LEAD-style case management for low-level offenses. LEAD-style programs, which began in King County, focus on connecting people to housing and treatment rather than repeatedly cycling them through arrest, and officials said the program remains one piece of a broader neighborhood strategy.
Neighbors walked out of the meeting still pressing for faster, more transparent action and clear signs of follow-through. Councilmembers said they will keep working with police and outreach teams and promised to report back with specific next steps in the coming weeks.
