STREET OUTREACH Services (SOS) is still in business—for now.
The nonprofit agency’s drop-in center for current and former drug users, located at the troubled corner of Second and Pike, was to have been evicted on Jan. 31. But after a series of media reports (starting with Seattle Weekly‘s “Strung Out,” Jan. 24) and an eruption of community support, a fast-moving series of events last week has led to an apparent extension of SOS’s lease of the downtown facility until the end of April.
SOS’s landlord, Richard Nimmer of Lancer Realty & Investments, had originally notified SOS last June of Lancer’s intention to evict its tenants and redevelop the site. But curiously, when SOS received a formal eviction notice late last year, none of the building’s other tenants—including the Needle Exchange, which attracts the same clientele—had received notices. SOS and its supporters felt they were being singled out.
When SOS was unable to find another nearby site to serve its 300 clients a day, the agency went shopping for political support. Last Tuesday, it found some: a letter to Nimmer from Mayor Greg Nickels and City Council members Nick Licata and Peter Steinbrueck, attempting to broker an extension until SOS could find an alternate facility. Nickels had publicly criticized SOS management as being at least partly responsible for the drug dealing, prostitution, and safety problems at Second and Pike; in the letter, his concerns were addressed by offering the use of the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) to consult with and train SOS staff in how to better keep their storefront area trouble free.
That won’t be necessary. By Monday, the parties appeared close to an agreement that will keep SOS in place for 90 days—not long enough to warrant staff training, but hopefully long enough for it to find new digs. However, executive director Kris Nyrop cautions that SOS has already been looking fruitlessly for over six months. “Our goal is to find a spot within a couple blocks [of downtown’s] Ride-Free Zone,” Nyrop says. “At the moment, I’ve got nothing on the table.”
Geov Parrish
