Olympia conducts second sweep of RVs, homeless residents on Ensign Road
Jan. 13—By 11 a.m. Wednesday, the majority of large RVs and lived-in vehicles had been removed from Ensign Road between Providence Lane and the Providence St. Peter Hospital service road.
The clearing was the last move set in motion when the hospital asked the city of Olympia to remove the parked vehicles and tents the summer of 2020 to ensure emergency vehicles had easy access to the hospital and the road. At the time, Washington state was still under an eviction moratorium, but that expired on Oct. 31, 2021. Those living in vehicles on Ensign Road were notified of the plan to clear the road on Nov. 15, according to a press release from the city's homeless response coordinator Kim Kondrat.
Tye Gundel, program coordinator for Olympia Mutual Aid Partners, said that figuring out exactly when the residents on Ensign Road had to move has been difficult. Originally, all the residents were going to be moved during a first sweep in December. Then that changed to half of the group, and the remainder were officially notified on Friday of Wednesday's move.
Gundel said the city decided to go with a staggered approach, rather than a hard-line sweep to remove every resident at once. This way, case workers could work more closely with residents to determine next steps.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/city-conducts-second-sweep-of-rvs-homeless-residents-on-ensign-road/ar-AASKfnm
