BY KEN MOCHIZUKI
Examiner Staff
A proposal for a residential facility in the International District to house the homeless mentally ill is being received with skepticism, concern and sometimes fear.
The Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC), a non-profit organization that provides emergency shelter, survival services, clinical programs and supportive housing for Seattleâs homeless, is negotiating the purchase of land to build its $17-$18 million housing facility within the southern end of the International District.
The Koh family, operators of Coho Real Estate, own the 80,000 square-foot empty lot bordered by South Lane Street and South Dearborn Street, and 10th Avenue South and land beneath the Jose Rizal Bridge. DESC buildings are planned to occupy two parcels within that property, with one initially proposed as a 100-room facility bordering Dearborn, and the second on Lane Street containing 60 rooms. A park will cover land east of the DESC buildings.
DESC Executive Director Bill Hobson began reaching out to the International District community last month with two meetings at the Bush Asia Center. He familiarized over 50 community residents and members of business and housing/development organizations with DESC.
Serving over 5,000 people annually, DESC can provide 300 beds for âemergency shelterâ for the homeless, Hobson said. DESC also operates six other âsupportive housingâ facilities in Pioneer Square, South Downtown, South Lake Union and Eastlake, with the largest being Pioneer Squareâs 190-room Morrison Hotel. The newest supportive housing facility, â415 Tenth Avenueâ by Seattle University was built on land purchased from the Koh family a year ago and will begin operation next year. Supportive housing provides about 600 total individual rooms, Hobson said.
DESC is also a state-licensed mental health and chemical dependency treatment provider, offering a âcontinuum of careâ for its residents with case management services. Mentally ill and chemically dependent individuals seeking housing and treatment from DESC must have âalready made a commitment to seek treatment,â Hobson said. Over 1,000 people are enrolled in its clinical programs, but DESC does ârule out sex offenders,â he said, and if a person hasnât committed a crime in 20 years, âwe will give that person a chance.â
Residents in the proposed International District site will be closely monitored by staff working 24/7. All tenants must adhere to âResident Good Neighbor Requirementsâ that include no panhandling, public inebriation or physical or verbal abuse of pedestrians. âWe are very serious about enforcement of that policy,â Hobson said. The public can report any violators of those requirements via a 24-hour phone line to the facility.
âYou will see people on the streets â I donât want to gloss over that,â Hobson said.
The mentally ill âtend to stay isolated in their rooms,â he said, and the DESC staff helps them reconnect to âactivities of daily livingâ and ârediscover what they enjoyed doing.â
International District residents, particularly its senior citizens, repeatedly expressed concern about adding more of the homeless to a neighborhood already with a homeless population problem, making them afraid to even go out at night. Others talked about children unable to use neighborhood parks. Safety is an issue for the police, Hobson said.
âI do want to emphasize: people are free to come and go, and people will see them,â Hobson said. âThatâs okay. Itâs not okay when people are fearful â thatâs something to be concerned about.
âI canât guarantee anybodyâs safety,â he continued. âMentally ill people are less assaultive than most of us are.â Statistically, he added, a person is more likely to be assaulted in a market-rate housing facility than in specialized housing.
âThere are 2,500 sleeping on the street at night because emergency shelters are full. And they are full because of a lack of affordable housing.â
Those attending the meetings also presented their concerns about the increasing density within the International District, particularly with the impending 620,000 square-foot, mixed-use âDearborn Streetâ project a few blocks east which will include big-box retailers and 400-500 residential units.
âThe International District is being squeezed again,â said former Seattle City Councilmember Dolores Sibonga. âTraffic alone from Goodwill [âDearborn Streetâ project] will be horrendous. I really question the beneficial impact on the I.D.â
Those living and working in the International District âdonât want a 160-unit site â I heard that loud and clear,â Hobson said, âWe are willing to consider a smaller project,â he said, however, âI canât do a project of less than 75 units and have it pencil out.â
For rent, tenants pay a third of their income, approximately $200 per month, Hobson said, and âthe federal government makes up the rest.â The revenue from a minimum of 75 units is necessary, he said, to âsupport heavy employee projects.â
Sue Taoka, executive director of the Seattle Chinatown/International District Preservation and Development Authority, questioned why the DESC facility has to be located in the International District.
âThe International District has been struggling for decades â to have some vibrancy,â she said, adding that there have been lingering negative perceptions about the area and that visitors âshouldnât be scaredâ to come to the neighborhood.
âThree thousand people live here, and weâre just starting to get out of that,â Taoka said. âWe have been doing more than our fair share in this neighborhood. This neighborhood deserves its opportunity to blossom. Anything can tip the balance â it really is a critical time for this neighborhood. We havenât turned the corner yet.â
Hobson responded that he has âstatistics that DESC will âstimulateâ the area rather than âretardâ development.â
âOur project cannot thwart the economic forces here,â he said. âWeâre not that big of a deal.â
Hobson said he has been working with the Koh family for two years to build on their International District property. Attractive features, he said, include the âprice of the landâ and the proximity to the other DESC sites. He also hopes to have a community meeting room within the International District site to create âactivity in a community space to bring people into the building.â
âBringing you folks into the building on a regular basis,â he said, will provide the following benefits: the mentally ill and other DESC residents are âstarved for contact with normal people.â And then there is the âeducational benefitâ for the public-at-large.
âMentally ill people do not have horns!â
Hobson said DESC will âkeep the community updated on its Web siteâ: www.desc.org.