Seattle to suspend work of team that sweeps homeless encampments, connects residents to resources

Seattle will suspend the work of the team including Seattle Police Department personnel responsible for sweeping homeless encampments and connecting people experiencing homelessness to resources.

The Navigation Team — which is made up of SPD officers and outreach workers — will be suspended throughout the end of 2020 after the Seattle City Council earlier this year approved budget proposals cutting its funding, the city announced Wednesday.

“This year, COVID-19 has brought new challenges to our homelessness crisis. Our City outreach teams have served a key role in shelter referrals, distributing resources for COVID-19, coordinating outreach and litter abatement, and addressing the limited removal of encampments that pose an extreme public health or safety risk to both residents of the encampment and the surrounding communities," Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a statement.

"Council voted repeatedly to defund the Navigation Team, which requires the City to suspend operations. While I continue to hope Council may choose to address many of the legal and operational concerns raised by stripping funding for the Navigation Team, the City will move forward with elements of the budget that can be implemented. I will continue to try to find common ground with Council to address issues that must be fixed legislatively.”

Earlier this year, the council approved proposals as part of an effort to rebalance the city's 2020 budget due to the coronavirus pandemic which included about $3 million in cuts to the Seattle Police Department. The proposals included plans to eliminate about 100 SPD jobs through layoffs and attrition and cut the city's Navigation Team.

The mayor vetoed the council's proposal, warning the cuts to SPD could put the city's public safety at risk. But last month, the council voted to override the mayor's veto, following public comment from dozens of people demanding the council "hold the line" and stand on the side of the people.

The Navigation Team has faced criticism and calls to defund several times, especially over the past several months. Since March, the team has continued to remove some encampments despite guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advising against sweeps during a pandemic unless a city has enough individual units for people.

The CDC warned sweeping encampments could spread the virus further and make it more difficult for outreach workers to continue connecting with people living unsheltered. The city has said the Navigation Team, since the start of the pandemic, has focused on removing encampments only in "extreme circumstances."

Advocates for years have warned including law enforcement on the team just further harms people experiencing homelessness. Earlier this year, a group of Seattle organizations — Chief Seattle Club, Mother Nation, Seattle Indian Health Board, and United Indians of All Tribes Foundation — demanded officers be removed from the Navigation Team, saying it is "contrary to trauma-informed principles and perpetuates harm." The groups called Durkan's approach to removing encampments "unacceptable," saying a lack of "culturally-appropriate assertive outreach" when homeless encampments are removed worsens racial disparities.

Durkan this week also announced plans to continue with layoffs of 70 people in the Seattle Police Department. Former Police Chief Carmen Best and Durkan argued earlier this year the council's calls to lay off officers would lead to the department losing those from its newest and most diverse class of recruits. The council multiple times discussed out of order layoffs, which the city said in a news release would likely "not be accomplished this year because they require bargaining with the affected unions and working with the Public Safety Civil Service Commission."

The councils proposals passed earlier this year came in response to thousands of people marching in the streets in Seattle and across the country night after night, demanding the city defund SPD by 50% and reinvest in the community. The council's proposals were far from meeting the demands of protesters. Councilmembers had said the 2020 proposals were just a starting point.

The city is now starting the process for its 2021 budget.

RELATED: 

• Seattle City Council votes to override Durkan's budget vetoes on cuts to SPD
• Groups call for police to be removed from Seattle Navigation Team
• Mayor Durkan to veto City Council's budget proposal to cut funding to Seattle Police Department
• Durkan, Best say Seattle City Council led to police chief's retirement decision
• Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best announces retirement, effective September
• Durkan: No plans to search for new police chief this year