Tonight homeless men and women from SHARE will sleep outside of City Councilman Tim Burgess’ home for the third night in a row. The group announced their plans in a press release today, saying that they will continue their protest until their “transportation crisis is over,” and dispute the claim made by many in the Seattle community that their actions are merely a “publicity stunt.” SHARE wrote,

Last night, there was a police presence at the sleepout not because of our actions (as usual our protest was quiet and peaceful) but to appease the unsubstantiated paranoia of one of Mr. Burgess’ neighbors. It is unfortunate that with the current recession and budget cuts, the City can still afford to dispatch its public servants to serve as personal body guards.

We will continue our protest until our transportation crisis is over. This is NOT a publicity stunt, but a sad truth. The bus drivers union realizes it too and has invited us to come and meet with them tonight at 8 PM at the Labor Temple to see how we could work together.

There are some in the over-privileged strata of society who naively see our actions as a theatrical extortion tactic, which shows how disconnected some people are from the harsh realities of life. Too many Americans are one paycheck away from homelessness. Without transportation, we cannot access our safe place to stay at night. We choose instead to sleep out and protest at the houses of those (the politicians) responsible for our predicament.

Unsheltered people die outside. Already this year, WHEEL/Church of Mary Magdalene Women in Black have stood for 29 homeless people who died outside or by violence. This morning we just heard of three more deaths which occurred recently, including the death by immolation of a homeless woman in Woodland Park. Next Wednesday at noon our sisters will have to stand for them too.

SHARE members have been sleeping outside houses in protest since Monday night, when Tent City 4 residents camped outside Mayor Nickels’ home. On Tuesday protesters from Tent City 3 moved Burgess’ home on Upper Queen Anne.

Councilmember Burgess shared his experience talking with the campers on Tuesday night and speaking with four of them further during his morning power walk on Wednesday on his personal blog.

We’re still waiting on a comment from a SHARE representative as to why they’ve chosen to continue their protest at this location rather than move on to the home of another politician. Meanwhile, readers have delved into conversation via comment on yesterday’s update. Many have expressed distrust in SHARE’s management, while others say this is an issue not about one organization, but about homelessness in a larger sense. Michaelkelly wrote,

In the end, SHARE/WHEEL is not the issue here. The issue is that we don’t have enough affordable housing in Seattle to meet the (growing) need. The 2009 One Night Count found 1977 people living unsheltered on the streets of Seattle. That’s a 2% increase from the year before. This is in addition to the thousands of people staying in shelters and transitional housing on any given night.

We need to provide more housing that the most vulnerable and lowest income families and individuals in Seattle can afford. VOTING YES on Prop 1, the Seattle Housing Levy, will help us to do this. The bulk of the Housing Levy will help to provide or preserve thousands of units for people earning less than 30% of the area median income ($25,300 for a family of four). It will keep people in safe, decent, and affordable housing and off of the streets.

Proposition 1 proposes a seven-year tax increase for low-income housing. For more information, see Yes for Homes, and this no on Prop 1 editorial from the Seattle Times.

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