An above ground pool with a couple of balls floating on top is the latest addition to a homeless encampment in Seattle, Washington.
Footage taken by KOMO News shows the blow-up pool surrounded by wood panels with several lounge chairs nearby. A woman is also seen sitting on a couch doing drugs.
ICYMI: Where the pool came from and how it was filled with water are still not clear.https://t.co/q9aZ7Mbc4O
— KOMO News (@komonews) July 13, 2023
“All of this is ludicrous,” Herb Egge, who lives in senior apartments across from the encampment, told KOMO. “These people come in and totally trash the place. Someone told me they hooked up a hose and filled a swimming pool with it.”
The encampment is located along the freeway between Myers Way and SR 509 in Highland Park. Egge said it has grown from a couple of RVs to more than 15.
Tents line the sidewalk on SW Clay Street in Portland, Oregon, on December 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer)
The 77-year-old said he has had his car broken into several times and someone even drilled into his gas tank.
Other senior residents reported hearing gunshots coming from the encampment, and in May a man was found killed after the outlet reported residents’ concerns of violence.
“We thought, ‘Oh wow, there’s been a homicide there. They are going to give us some attention now.’ They didn’t,” Diane Radischat, who lives at Arrowhead Gardens, told KOMO. “We want the solutions, and we know what the problems are. When you’ve had the same problem repeatedly in different locations, you know what needs to be done.”
Radischat received a letter from Seattle’s mayor stating a plan involving the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), and the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) to deal with the encampment.
Homeless encampments are not only eyesores for community members, but also sites for rampant drug abuse, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Over the last 12-month period ending on January 31, the rate of overdoses in Washington increased by 21.9 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Breitbart reported in May there was a two-mile-long vehicle encampment in San Francisco as a result of the high cost of housing.