The Carl Haglund Foundation Calls for Treatment in Little Saigon Encampment Removal

Unsheltered population must be given addition treatment or camps will simply return. 

SEATTLE, WA – The Carl Haglund Foundation called on the City of Seattle to offer addiction services to those homeless who were evicted in the Little Saigon encampment removal last Friday. Speaking to the Select Committee on Homelessness Strategies and Investments Wednesday, May 27, Carl Haglund, CEO of the Carl Haglund Foundation called on city leaders to not simply abandon the residents who were caught up in the sweeps of the city’s Navigation Team. “If we don’t offer these residents addition treatment and a battery of social services, we are simply moving the problem from one part of the city to another. Sweeps don’t work. Rehabilitation does.” 

Haglund has spent 25 years developing affordable housing in some of Seattle’s roughest neighborhoods. He says he knows the problem first hand and has ideas about how to solve them. “Last year, I walked the encampment in Little Saigon and what I saw broke my heart. There was a young man, maybe 18 years old, desperately searching for a vein in his arm to shoot up. Next to him was a friend already passed out in the gutter. Yes, these people didn’t have a home, but more significantly, they didn’t have any hope. We need to give them hope or sweeping encampments is an exercise in futility.” Haglund argues that sweeping encampments is just a way for the city to hide the problem instead of addressing the problem. “Sweeping people out of their tents isn’t going to cure homelessness. We need to get these people medical help and mental health help. Otherwise, they will just be right back in a few weeks. Maybe in the same place. Maybe in a different place. But moving homeless people around the city is not curing homelessness.” 

Haglund is also concerned that there is a perception that homeless camps only get swept in predominantly minority neighborhoods. “Far too often I think we see that homeless camps get attacked if they get too close to white, middle class neighborhoods, but are left alone if they are in predominantly minority or industrial neighborhoods. I think that sends a very negative message to the community. It suggests that some parts of the city are more important than others.”