COLVILLE, Wash. — The city of Colville has started to move their homeless population to a designated location.
People have been living at a homeless encampment on North Railroad Street for over a year.
Now, the city of Colville is moving them to a new location. The new site by Louis Perras Road has 25 spots and has been in the works for the last three months.
Barbara Barbee has been homeless for the past three years. And, like 30 other people, she found an empty field to park her trailer just last winter.
“It’s not fun, it’s not someplace that any one of us want to be,” Barbee said.
Barbara thought her life couldn’t get any worse when only a couple days ago she got a notice that she would be forced to leave the field she lives on.
“Them only giving us two days notice that we got to leave or we’re going to be arrested, our stuff impounded, and then we lose everything we own because who’s got the money to get it out? Nobody," Barbee said.
The city told Barbara that they can now cite people for illegal camping because they have a place where homeless people can stay. Back in July, Stevens County awarded Colville $125,000 to address the homeless situation.
The city used the money to purchase an empty lot and to clean and put a fence around it.
“I think they’re rude, inconsiderate. They are self-centered," said Beverley Coones, who lives at the homeless encampment in Colville. “They are impatient. They are trying to run these people out and I think it’s ridiculous.”
The mayor of Colville, Jack Smith, says the new location is meant to give people a better living situation. He also wants to find service providers to help with employment and living options.
“This is inhumane as you can see right here. It’s not a good spot for them to live and it doesn’t do anything for the people already living here. It’s essentially an unregulated sentiment. In the new spot they’ll be going to it’ll be much easier to keep clean,” said Mayor Jack Smith.
The new location is meant to give people a safe space to stay with clean water and porta potties.
Michael Bales was one of the first people to move to the new location.
“It’s a spot where cops can’t mess with me," Bales said. "I can keep to myself and I should have no problems. I’m homeless, so this is better than nothing.”
The mayor says the new location is not meant to be permanent.
One of the rules says that people can only stay at the location for three weeks and must vacate their lot space for a minimum of five days before coming back.
He says he wants to encourage people to move into this new space. He also hopes that this will limit the amount of people staying on the streets.
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