SEATTLE — A new home for a new family.
“I mean, this is our family home, right? This has been passed around through our whole family,” said Gerald Gutierrez.
Gutierrez, his wife and their 1-year-old son moved into a South Beacon Hill home in the spring.
“We personally like this neighborhood,” said Gutierrez. "It’s super quiet here. We have the community garden. I work up in Beacon Hill, so everything is so close.”
They wanted to raise their son close to family, and this was a perfect opportunity.
“The housing itself is comfortable, with the exception of this problem right here,” Gutierrez said.
A recreational vehicle (RV), shed, and a couple of other vehicles are parked on the side of his property line, in the city right-of-way.
“Chairs, there’s rotting wood, all of this stuff that’s piling up,” said Gutierrez, who said he has called the exterminator multiple times for bugs and rats.
Gutierrez said he has tried to reach out to multiple avenues within the city.
“I’ve opened up multiple cases with every avenue of Find It, Fix It app, Department of Health Sanitation, and nothing happens," said Gutierrez.
Going through the same channels, Vong Doan has spent three years trying to get a resolution.
“The cable is running over the road. You can see the messy cable, it looks really dangerous,” Doan said, referring to an exposed cable running across the street.
KING 5 reached out to the city, which confirmed it was aware of the encampment. In a statement, city went on to say, “Although the City is not able to immediately address every one of the hundreds of documented sites of people living in tents and RVs, the Unified Care Team will continue to respond with urgency and compassion, working to keep public spaces accessible while helping people move off the streets and into shelter and housing. The City will continue to partner with the Regional Homelessness Authority who is the independent agency responsible for developing, communicating, and executing an evidence-based strategy to address homelessness in the City of Seattle."
Seattle City Councilmember Tammy Morales also responded, saying in part that, “We hear this family's concerns and my office is happy to assist. This is an issue many constituents have emailed us about.”
In May, the city began enforcing its 72-hour parking rule that prohibits vehicles from being parked on a city street for more than 72 hours. Neighbors told KING 5 they report the vehicles weekly.
“I mean, it’s frustrating, you know? It’s like, what else can you really do?” said Gutierrez.
At a loss, Gutierrez doesn’t know what the future holds.
“Everyone has a right to live somewhere, but not against someone’s house, and it sucks because it’s private property, but once you get out there over that fence, it’s nothing else,” Gutierrez said.
KING 5 reached out to the man in the RV, who goes by Henry. He told KING 5 he would make a statement, but he has not sent one.