Encampment on Seattle public school campus cleared after over a year of violence, corruption, disease and crime

After a year and a half of violence, corruption, disease and crime, city crews finally removed the homeless encampment on the campus of Seattle Public School’s Broadview Thompson K-8.

During that time parents, neighbors and faculty demanded that the school district or the city take action.

After crews cleared remaining tents the city installed fencing to prevent campers from coming back to the area. The field is expected to reopen mid-January. Some of the campers were placed in shelters and tiny homes, while others refused services and went looking for new places to camp or vehicles to sleep in.

District officials previously waffled between refusing to remove the encampment and claiming that the campers were on city property, not the district's.

In emails sent by neighbors and employees to The Post Millennial, Seattle School Board Chair Chandra Hampson and Director Zachary DeWolf demanded Mayor Jenny Durkan not allow the encampments to be removed from school grounds.

Hampson and DeWolf published a joint statement condemning any potential removal of encampments from school property or anywhere else in the city, saying "We demand sweeps NEVER be performed on school grounds, adjacent or elsewhere in this City."

Hampson even threatened volunteers with trespassing who distributed leaflets when parents and students returned to school following the pandemic warning of the dangers that had been dealing with from the encampment on campus and school officials’ refusal to address it.

Local Marxist activists previously enabled the campers by giving them supplies and chasing off volunteer groups. Neighbors told The Post Millennial that Antifa activists have been spotted harassing outreach volunteers and have told the campers that the volunteer outreach groups, made up mostly of middle-aged residents, are dangerous.

After demands from parents, teachers and neighbors to clear the encampment following crime, rodent infestation and more attribute to the campers, Seattle Public Schools contracted with Mathias of a new non-profit called Anything Helps.

According to documents obtained by The Post Millennial, Mathias, a former homeless meth addict, is being accused of using funds from the non-profit to purchase meth for personal use. The documents citing multiple witnesses who claimed Mathias spent "large cash amounts" to purchase drugs for campers and himself. Additionally, "Despite multiple requests to produce receipts, Mr. Mathias cannot account for all Anything Helps funds. And that funds were unaccounted for."

The documents also state that Mathias was "…pressuring women at the camp to 'hit' or 'slam' him with meth."

One woman claimed that Mathias told her that her Emergency Housing Voucher would be rescinded/canceled and that he could get her evicted from her temporary housing if she did not agree to his requests.

Neighbors have regularly recorded drug dealers and prostitutes working the encampment, fueling the drug problem onsite. They have also photographed city vehicles bringing drug paraphernalia to the encampment.

The documents also claim that Mathias harassed the women to change their stories, "…disabling Anything Helps team email and application access, 'firing' unpaid staff after they came forward with the allegations, verbal abuse of and threats toward staff, and having staff banned from all sites."

He also allegedly made attempts to restrict access to shelter for the campers.

At the time of his appointment, neighbors were skeptical and called him a "grifter," equating him to just a new face in the corrupt Seattle "homeless industrial complex.

Though neighbors, parents and faculty are thrilled the encampment has been removed, they remain concerned that it could return and the cycle of violence will begin again.