The Seattle City Council approved a plan Tuesday to expand some shelter sites from 100 people to 150, with one future pilot site allowed to grow to 250.
SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council approved legislation Tuesday designed to expand the capacity of transitional encampments across the city, part of Mayor Katie Wilson’s push to quickly add more shelter space and tiny home villages as Seattle continues grappling with homelessness.
The legislation raises the capacity at some existing shelter sites from 100 people to 150 people and allows one future pilot site to grow to as many as 250 occupants.
The vote comes as the city moves forward with plans for a proposed 90-unit tiny home village in South Park near the Cloverleaf interchange.
According to city documents, the proposed village would include 90 tiny houses, three staff offices, a security office, a kitchen tent, a community tent, hygiene units, a laundry room and a storage container.
Some South Park residents say they were unaware the city had already secured the property for the proposal.
Khoa Nguyen, who has lived in South Park for several years, said he supports efforts to help people experiencing homelessness but worries about how a larger shelter site could impact the surrounding neighborhood.
“As a resident, I would feel like there will be homeless people coming in and it could feel dangerous,” Nguyen said. “However, I do understand that they are homeless people and we need to do something about it.”
During Tuesday’s council meeting, councilmembers spent hours debating how much oversight, security and neighborhood input should accompany the shelter expansion.
Council approved one amendment allowing the city to negotiate additional safety requirements for shelters proposed near schools or other encampments.
But the council rejected another amendment that would have required trained overnight security staff at larger shelter sites. Some councilmembers argued existing staffing and public safety requirements already addressed those concerns, while others cited potential costs and operational challenges.
The council also rejected an amendment that would have required large shelter sites to be broken into smaller internal “neighborhoods.” Supporters argued the proposal would improve privacy and livability for residents, while opponents said the language was too vague and could complicate operations.
Supporters of the legislation said Seattle urgently needs additional shelter capacity and argued tiny home villages provide safer and more stable alternatives to living outside.
“This is an opportunity for us with this interim legislation to make sure that this expansion is really well run and really well done,” Councilmember Dionne Foster said during Tuesday’s meeting.
The legislation is considered an interim policy while the city develops permanent regulations for shelter expansion.
The vote itself does not specifically approve the South Park site, but it does make it easier for the city to expand tiny home villages and other shelter projects citywide.
Seattle already has about a dozen tiny home villages. City documents say six additional micro-shelter sites totaling about 360 planned beds are already in the permit pipeline.
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