Neighborhood in shock over planned homeless camp

BREMERTON, Wash. - A residential Bremerton neighborhood is in turmoil after learning that a developer wants to put nearly three dozen plywood cabins on his land for a homeless camp.

The developer and a few supporters says the camp is sorely needed. But neighbors call it an unsightly nuisance that endangers their kids and way of life.

And on Saturday night, the two sides faced off in a packed neighborhood meeting that quickly became heated - and ended with some residents storming out of the church hall where it was held.

Residents say they didn't even know of the plan, until they got flyers on their doors last week.

That's when they first learned that their quiet neighborhood - where kids play in the front yards and there is no traffic - was to become a haven for the homeless.

A bulldozer came in, and the red flags went up.

Now, irate residents say they're not only concerned about their quality of life and safety - but also about the environment.

"It is so steep and marshy and rain forest, something's going to happen," says Cherri Powell, who lives one street over from the planned encampment.

But the developer, Joel Adamson, says residents there have nothing to worry about.

"The security will be tightly controlled for the security of the children," he says.

The developer wants to put as many as 70 children and 45 adults in a series of plywood cabins. He says it is a way to address what county leaders say is a growing homeless population in Kitsap County.

"They're sleeping in their cars. They're sleeping outside. They're sleeping wherever they can. Their children are musk and dirty and cold at night," said one supporter of the plan.

But neighbors said the Bowen Street neighborhood is the wrong place to solve the problem of homelessness.

"I would not want a bunch of cabins in the back of my yard," said one woman, who didn't want her name used. "People walking back and forth on my street, driving vehicles that I do not know."

The site on Bowen Street doesn't look like much yet, but proponents argue there will be safety measures, including background checks, a fence, no drugs or alcohol allowed.

"I know people have homes, and they're worried about that, and that's all fine and dandy, but if they were in the need of the people they wouldn't care about those things," said Ernest Pounds, a former homeless man who supports the camp.

Amy O'Shaughnessy of the Bremerton Rescue Mission agrees that the planned site for the homeless camp is not ideal, but there aren't any other choices.

"I don't think it may be the best solution. It's the only solution at this point," she says.

The county has requested that work on the camp be stopped until leaders complete a review of the project. The developer has complied - for now.