Seattle’s only parking lot for homeless people living in their RVs closed this month to make way for a three-story pickleball complex. The nonprofit operating the lot says it hopes to reopen at a new location soon.
In May 2023, the Low Income Housing Institute signed a five-year lease to use an empty lot in Interbay to operate a designated space with services for people living in their vehicles. But the nonprofit said the contract had an early termination option after two years in case the landowner made progress on their development before the end of the lease.
About 15% of homeless people in King County are living in their vehicle — 2,569 people — according to the Regional Homelessness Authority’s 2024 Point-in-Time count.
The Interbay lot had space for 27 RVs and 11 tiny homes. RVs can provide more stability and safety to homeless people than being on the street or in a tent. But business owners often complain that they can attract pests, take up parking spots, and drive away customers. And it is illegal in Seattle to park in one spot for more than 72 hours, which the city began enforcing again in late 2021 after a pause during the pandemic.
The lot allowed people to park their RVs if they signed their vehicles over. Staff set up electric heat and drained the vehicles of any liquids that could create a fire or environmental hazard. There was a shared bathroom, kitchen, laundry and hygiene facility on-site. People also had access to a behavioral health specialist who offered substance use disorder treatment and mental health counseling. Once a subsidized permanent housing unit opened up and people moved in, their vehicle would be demolished. The program destroyed 67 RVs that way.
Since the lot opened in December 2023, the Low Income Housing Institute reported 87 people stayed there and 26 of them, or 30%, have moved into permanent housing. Jon Grant, chief strategy officer at LIHI, said that number isn’t representative of the program’s success because it doesn’t count people who were transferred to other tiny home villages or shelters as the lot closed this month, who he said could still move into permanent housing.
At its peak, he said more than 60% of people were moving into housing.
The Interbay property was originally slated for housing. Developer Maria Barrientos submitted applications to the city in April 2023 to erect about 300 apartments on the narrow, 1.25-acre site, which is owned by Seattle Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder.
Later that year, the developer pivoted the plans to develop a pickleball complex. It wants to build 20 to 22 courts, plus bathrooms, community spaces and parking stalls, with some courts inside and some on a rooftop deck, according to city permitting records.
The developer had agreed to lease that land to LIHI to host an RV safe lot while it was waiting for permits.
“The property owner should be commended for stepping up to allow us to open this innovative program when so many others told us no,” Grant said.
The nonprofit often uses the permitting period during a construction project when land sits vacant to host tiny home villages. The organization describes it as a win-win — developers earn extra income and homeless people have a place to stay for a while.
But it can mean the organization frequently has to go through the challenging process of identifying a new location for a homeless shelter and winning support for it.
It took nearly a year for the Low-Income Housing Institute to find the Interbay location, looking at 80 sites after being awarded $1.9 million in 2022 by the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. After signing a contract in May 2023, it took seven more months to open, delayed by permitting concerns related to heavy vehicles being parked near a steep slope, the city’s Department of Construction and Inspections said.
Grant said the organization has already identified a potential new site that could hold 60 large RVs and 10 to 15 tiny homes and doesn’t have a slope-angle issue. He said he could not disclose the location until the contract has been signed.
Grant said University Heights Center, which manages referrals to the program, identifies the most vulnerable people who are living in vehicles that are sometimes unable to move.
“These RVs are incredibly unsafe.” Grant said. “They may have a caved-in roof, they may have black mold. It is often a fire hazard.”
Sometimes, when a vehicle is too much of a hazard to tow onto the safe lot, it’s demolished right away, Grant said, and the resident is given a tiny home at the location until a permanent housing unit opens up.
