It’s been at least nine years since the formation of a homeless encampment at the end of Centralia’s Eckerson Road, known locally as Blakeslee Junction.
About 25 people live there right now, according to resident Chuck Wiegard, the camp’s self-proclaimed, de-facto caretaker.
For nine years, Lewis County Public Health officials, volunteers and electeds have toiled over what to do about the encampment. Services from local providers, including needle exchanges, clean clothing and health care outreach are brought to the camp every week.
About one year ago, while touring the camp, Lewis County Public Health Director Meja Handlen, who was interim director at the time, called the location “dangerous” and “not habitable.”
After a tour this week, a recent death in the encampment and what Handlen described as an “uptick in aggressive persons when outreach goes there,” the Lewis County Board of Health, which is made up of the county commissioners, spent 43 minutes discussing concerns about Blakeslee Junction in a Monday meeting.
Dr. Joe Wiley, Lewis County’s health officer, who was hired by the commissioners, has now toured the encampment three times, he said on Monday. A death occurred there last month, Wiley said. Some encampment residents believed the death was a suicide by heroin overdose. Autopsy results are still pending. Wiley said the death seems to have “brought things to a head.”
Drug use at the encampment is just one facet of the Lewis County commissioners’ concerns over the safety of the site, though. Meeting attendees mentioned an abundance of human waste and other hazardous materials — there are no bathroom facilities at the encampment — trash, and a large fire in March, which destroyed at least one two-story structure.
After discussion about the hazards, Wiley might consider drafting an emergency health declaration over the site, according to Monday’s discussion. Regardless, though, he said he’s sending a letter with health and safety concerns to the applicable agencies. The camp is in the City of Centralia and adjacent to Interstate 5, so those would be the Centralia Police Department and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).
The latter owns the site and has been looking to sell it for some time. WSDOT confirmed on Wednesday morning there is an “interested” buyer. There were no other details of the sale that could be verified at the time, however.
Upon the sale’s confirmation, according to a statement from the Southwest Region of the department earlier this year, WSDOT will work “closely with the city or county and ensure there is outreach from the appropriate service providers” to vacate residents. Crews will then clean the property before ownership is transferred.
WSDOT Southwest Region spokesperson Sarah Hannon-Nein, in a statement on Wednesday, said there are four actions that must occur to allow encampments to be removed from the agency’s right of way. Those are: “The offering of shelter and services to people living there; storage of their belongings; safety and security for people on site and work crews; (and/or) restoration and cleanup of the property.”
Homelessness is a complex issue without easy answers, Hannon-Nein said, adding encampment clearings require a coordinated approach that considers the safety of workers, residents, neighbors and the general public.
“The overarching need is for the creation of safe, secure housing options for people experiencing homelessness, which is well beyond the expertise, ability or funding of a transportation agency,” Hannon-Nein said.
The agency wasn’t able to answer follow-up questions about how it may respond to the county’s specific health concerns before The Chronicle’s deadline on Wednesday, but Hannon-Nein said WSDOT’s response to these situations is highly individualized and that there aren’t always precedents or guidelines.
“It’s very unsanitary. It’s unsafe,” Wiley said on Monday. “I am not making a health order because we haven’t had an infectious disease outbreak from the area. Plus, just like there is a trespass order that is not being enforced, I fear that a health order would also not be enforced. But, I am sending a fairly strong letter.”
Concerns from Commissioners Sean Swope and Scott Brummer on Monday weren’t eased by Wiley’s promise of a letter, however. Commissioner Lindsey Pollock was absent from the meeting.
If the county did declare an emergency health order, both Swope and Wiley noted, it may gain the authority to arrest violators. The two had differing opinions, though, on whether that was the necessary next step.
“I hesitate to use a health order that could jail people. … Health orders have a very — and this is with counsel, but, I need to be very careful how I use that tool as the health officer of Lewis County. But, I’m trying to make a very strong recommendation,” Wiley said.
Swope, whose district encompasses Centralia and therefore Blakeslee Junction, has had a sharp focus on homelessness and how services are funded for much of his time in office. Brummer’s concerns were similar to Swope’s, though he had fewer directions for Wiley at the moment, noting there are obvious legal constraints that “come into play” around clearing the location.
On Monday, Swope said he wanted to push back on Wiley’s opinion, concerned that continued inaction would only lead to more deaths. His response had a tone of despair.
“They’re not getting better. They’re dying,” Swope said of the encampment’s residents.
Further, he said, with feces and trash throughout the area, in a swampy spot near the Skookumchuck River, Swope worried the site posed ecological danger to the community’s water system.
“I think, maybe, it is time for some of these folks to have to go to jail,” Swope said. “They’ve been offered services from the time that I — from three years ago.”
In a follow-up interview, Handlen echoed that recent years have seen more services provided to residents of Blakeslee, at the behest of elected officials.
“Our department and Centralia and Chehalis have been very active in working on ending encampments and getting outreach services to them,” Handlen said, later adding, “That’s something that’s really changed. That’s been at the forefront of everything.”
Noting WSDOT’s promise to clean up the encampment before the land changes hands, Handlen said another challenge from a health order would be ensuring people actually left Blakeslee Junction. WSDOT, she said, will likely only want to clean it up once.
