Seattle, WA: #AllOut to Defend Autonomous Tiny House Village from Eviction

Call from Demand Utopia and Stop the Sweeps Seattle to stand with an autonomous and self-managed tiny house village that is threatened with eviction.

Update: Nickelsville reports that the eviction has been called off, at least until March. People are still encouraged to meet Sunday night at the space to discuss next moves.

The city of Seattle is planning on sweeping the autonomous Nickelsville Northlake tiny house village (3814 4th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105), after giving only a few weeks notice, few to no viable alternatives for relocation, and for arbitrary reasons.

According to the group’s Facebook page:

This Tiny House Village is sober and drug free, operates well, and neighbors are okay with it. Residents would like to continue self-managing the Village with no future operating costs paid by the City. Gift of Grace Lutheran Church is willing to be the Religious Encampment Sponsor.

As Arch Paper wrote:

Many of the residents of Northlake are eager to keep the village in operation because it provides a positive, more independent alternative to the typical homeless shelter model. Village residents elect their leaders internally each week and have essentially run the property themselves by handling security, kitchen duties, and other operations as a community. The model is catching on in Seattle (albeit slowly), where residents can also host homeless members of the community in tiny homes built in their backyard.

Attacks on the tiny house community have been ongoing, especially after residents asserted their autonomy by asking the city to respect their privacy. As the Seattle Times wrote:

Since April, the gates have been locked against the city and its contractors, and only a few people let in. The case manager’s office has sat empty since Aug. 5, and no one has left the village for permanent housing since at least July.

The residents of this legal encampment are asking the community to stand with them next Monday, December 9th at 8 AM. They write:

We are calling on people who are willing to be arrested to place themselves between the police and the houseless residents who have no better alternative than the community they have built. We are also asking for people to come through and document the police brutality and misconduct during the sweep either as legal observers or as documentarians with phones and other cameras.

Keeping Northlake open is important for all of Seattle. Nickelsville is inviting all people of the region – homeless and housed – to share the burden of keeping Northlake open. One powerful reason for keeping Northlake open is that thousands of homeless people in Seattle have no safe place to sleep or live. Hundreds are literally dying as a result.

Sweeping a successful shelter in the dead of winter will cause more death and hardship and is a direct attack on poor and working people already being pushed out of the city by rising rents, increasing costs, and gentrification.

How You Can Help:

• Help to non-violently resist the sweep of Northlake. Bear witness to, or be willing to non-violently resist, the sweep of this Tiny House Village at 8:00 AM Monday, December 9th. Mark your calendars now. Let them know if you can stand in witness or support.
• Nickelsville Northlake is hosting a dinner for anyone from the community to attend at 5pm on December 8th and remarks will be made at 6pm. They are inviting anyone who is willing and able to pitch a tent to sleep in the encampment in solidarity in preparation for the sweep.

Contact Nickelsville: [email protected]

On Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nickelsville2

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nickelsvilleworks/