Homeless cleaning up tent city, moving back into Seattle shelters with help of non-profit

SEATTLE -- The homeless sleeping outside the King County Administration building will be packing up and moving into overnight shelters Monday.

The non-profit SHARE announced it reached an agreement with the city and county to re-open nearly a dozen shelters that closed earlier this year.

“Our shelters had to close because we didn’t have money," Stud Tanquist, who serves on SHARE's board, said. "And so people have come together to be safe."

Back in March, hundreds of people rolled out their sleeping bags and pitched tents on the plaza and at 5th Avenue and Jefferson Street after funding cuts closed the shelters.



By camping outside the county building, the homeless hoped it would prove that more shelters are needed to help those living on the streets.

”There is not enough affordable housing. People are pouring into homelessness. There's just not places for people to go. We've got a number of people with housing vouchers, they still can't afford housing,” said Tanquist.

The Catholic Community Services will oversee the new funding to run the SHARE program.

The people sleeping on the plaza will clean up and move into the overnight shelters Monday night.