They also have consistently done this without contacting direct service providers. Organizations like the one I work for, Bread & Roses, and our close partner EGYHOP, can at the very least provide harm reduction services to campers who are forced to move. I feel justified in saying that I don't trust the City of Olympia to effectively advocate for individuals transitioning from one campsite to another. It's not their job to be advocates, which is why they should seek out advice and help from those whose job that is. I should be very clear, however, that this is not a role I'm willing to fill over and over for years to come. I simply will not be a part of people being pushed around from one unsafe environ to the next. I think that viewpoint reflects the overall view of the homeless advocate community.

Being that there is going to come a point, likely sooner than later, where advocates are going to start refusing to aid the City in this capacity, the City should think long and hard on one question. 'Where can people go and be left alone?'

If Steve Hall, the Council, or Staff can quickly answer that question, then a lot of time can be saved on providing people with stability, which we've learned from Camp Quixote is therapeutic and empowering.

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I understand that it's not as simple as just picking a piece of land and saying 'have at it'. There are legal issues, zoning issues, NIMBY issues, etc. We can figure all of that out as a community. I'm looking for the City of Olympia to make that it's goal. Start the conversation by committing to finding a safe place for people to camp. I implore Steve Hall and the Council to reach out to the experts in the community who work with folks who are camping and understand their needs, and also can pull them into these conversations. This will break down stereotypes at the same time as it will efficiently and effectively solve a problem that affects the City, the campers, and the community as a whole.

Not having an open dialog with advocates, the community, and the campers will only alienate people and stir up feelings of desperation and insecurity which tend to manifest themselves in a variety of ways, the most destructive being the disempowerment of the very people we should be trying to help. Homelessness is an isolating and insecure condition to begin with, compound that with being pushed from place to place, and not being listened to, over and over again. When this sense of abandonment and isolation becomes normalized in a person's mind it makes it very easy to give up, and to give in to stereotypes.

The City of Olympia has, to it's credit, done much more than any other city in this county for low income and homeless people. This fact shouldn't be used as an excuse by the City to not do more, but as an argument that other jurisdictions need to 'get with it'. Advocates in Olympia would support and aid the City of Olympia in that endeavor. Before that can happen though, the City of Olympia needs to recognize, and really reach out to those in the community that work on these issues by creating a task force made up of local advocates and city staff, with a budget and the teeth to really solve specific issues that come up. This should be a working task force with weekly meetings so that it can keep up with the dynamic needs of the community. This task force can begin by holding monthly community events to educate about stereotypes and other realities of homelessness, and also to plug community members into organizations that need volunteers or other support.

Solutions to community problems can only be found through community problem solving. The City of Olympia doesn't have to do much of the work here, but they can provide the space and the format to really move toward solving problems. I only hope they're willing to listen.