WSDOT DECLINES OPTIONS TO CONNECT RESIDENTS OF CAMP WITH SHELTER – INSTEAD MOVES TO ClOSE CAMP WITHOUT OFFERING ALTERNATIVE SHELTER OPTIONS

Summary of the situation

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has declined two separate opportunities to support closure plans for a camp located on their property along Percival Creek that would result in many, if not all, residents of the camp being connected with indoor shelter prior to the camp’s closure. In lieu of collaborating with community partners to pursue either of these opportunities, WSDOT leadership has instead decided to move forward with closing the camp on Monday, May 11th, without offering those living at the camp any alternative shelter options. There are 16 people confirmed to be living at the camp, including a family with 4 children under the age of 13 and 8 people who have disclosed that they live with disabilities.

How you can help

The most immediate way you can help is by educating yourself and others in the community about the situation (keep reading to check out OlyMAP’s in-depth account of what has occurred so far ) and by contacting WSDOT and Department of Commerce representatives to let them know that you do not support the decision to displace the people living at this camp without offering alternative shelter and that you would like to see them working with providers and other community stakeholders to pursue any available opportunities to ensure that people are connected with shelter prior to the camp’s closure. Ask those you know to do the same.

Gauger, Michael (WSDOT):  michael.gauger@wsdot.wa.gov

Weiss, Reyn (WSDOT):  reyn.weiss@wsdot.wa.gov

Peppin, Nathan (Department of Commerce): nathan.peppin@commerce.wa.gov

Kelleher, Tedd (Department of Commerce): tedd.kelleher@commerce.wa.gov

More broadly, you can help by contacting WSDOT, Department of Commerce, and your local and state representatives to let them know that you support the general practice of not displacing people prior to shelter being offered and that you do not support the displacement of people living unsheltered prior to offers of shelter being made.

*see above for contact information for WSDOT and the Department of Commerce

City of Olympia City Council & City Manager: citycouncil@ci.olympia.wa.us , jburney@ci.olympia.wa.us

City of Tumwater City Council: Council@ci.tumwater.wa.us 

Thurston County Commissioners and County Manager: county.commissioners@co.thurston.wa.us

Thurston County Regional Housing Council: thomas.webster@co.thurston.wa.us *note in email that your communication is intended as public comment for the RHC

Additionally, you can help by donating funds or supplies to go towards supporting those who are facing displacement from this location. Donations of supplies can be brought to the OlyMAP office Monday-Friday from 12-3 (701 Franklin St SE Olympia, WA). Donations of funds can be made via the donation page on our website.

An in-depth account from OlyMAP of what has occurred so far

Background of homelessness and camps along Percival Creek

The Percival Creek area is a location where people living unsheltered have sheltered themselves for over a decade. At its peak, roughly 80 people were sheltering themselves in this area between 2023-2025. Multiple entities own land in the Percival Creek area, including the City of Olympia, the City of Tumwater, WSDOT, the Department of Enterprise Services (DES) and the Burlington Northen Sante Fe (BNSF) railway company.

In 2022, the state-funded Rights of Way (RoW) Initiative was implemented in 5 counties across the state of Washington, including Thurston. RoW is focused on increasing shelter and outreach capacity for individuals living in camps on WSDOT-owned rights-of-way, with the aim of moving those individuals to indoor shelter prior to closing the camp. Between 2022-2025 over 400 people sheltering themselves on rights of ways throughout Thurston County were connected to indoor shelter through this program.

Due to people camping on WSDOT RoW property along Percival Creek, the area was formally designated as a RoW site in 2024.

Between August of 2024 and October of 2025, the portion of the camp within the city limits of Olympia was systematically shut down. The majority of people living in the areas along Percival Creek shut down during this process were offered and connected with indoor shelter. However, others living in the area were displaced without being offered alternative shelter – at least 14 people were confirmed to be displaced when the final section of the area was closed down by the City of Olympia in October of 2025.

A number of the people displaced through this process relocated to property owned by the City of Tumwater along Percival Creek, until the camp was shut down by the City of Tumwater in February of 2026, again without any offer of alternative shelter. Some of those displaced relocated to other areas outside of Percival Creek, while some relocated less than 100 yards away to property owned by WSDOT along Percival Creek and within the city limits of Tumwater.

The camp that WSDOT is actively in the process of sweeping is the location where these folks relocated to.

This camp’s story

There are currently 16 people confirmed to be living at this camp, including one family with 4 children under the age of 13. 50% of the residents have also disclosed that they live with disabilities. 3 of the people living at the camp were on the RoW By-Names-List (BNL) for Percival Creek. People on the RoW BNL for any RoW camp are those who are considered RoW eligible and are expected to be offered shelter prior to being displaced. These 3 were not. 4 of the residents of the camp were displaced from other areas along Percival Creek, 1 by the City of Olympia in October of 2025, 1 by the City of Tumwater in January of 2026 and 2 who were displaced by both.

OlyMAP, a local homeless services organization that provides outreach, shelter-in-place, case management and shelter services for people experiencing homelessness in Thurston County began working with this camp in November of 2025.  At that time, 10 – 12 people were living in the location. The camp grew to a confirmed population of at least 16 people after the closure of the camp located on City of Tumwater property.

WSDOT was unaware that this camp was located on their property until April of 2026, when some Washington State Patrol troopers attempted to intimidate people into leaving the area without the authorization of their supervisors. When this situation was brought to their attention, WSDOT looked further into the issue and discovered that the camp was located on their property. At this time, they informed the City of Olympia of their intention to close the camp.

Thanks to advocacy from Thurston County, this move towards closure was paused to provide time for stakeholders to discuss the possibility of working together to support a closure plan that would support people being connected with shelter, prior to closure of the camp. Stakeholders, including the City of Olympia, the City of Tumwater, Thurston County, WSDOT, Family Support Center and OlyMAP met on April 13th for this discussion. During this meeting, the majority of stakeholders, including Thurston County, expressed interest in and support for designating the camp as a RoW site. If this was done, a BNL of all residents would be created and those on the list would be offered shelter at RoW-funded shelters in Thurston County prior to the camp being closed down.

This proposal was brought to Thurston County’s bi-weekly RoW meeting the following day to seek approval from the Department of Commerce. Department of Commerce representatives stated that the site could be considered a RoW site if WSDOT decided to request that it be designated as such. It was estimated that the decision would take up to the end of April to make.

On April 23rd, OlyMAP learned that WSDOT decided not to request that the location be designated as a RoW site, claiming that the camp did not meet the criteria, despite being located on WSDOT RoW property, because of when the camp came into existence. To the best of OlyMAP’s knowledge, there is no language in the state’s RoW Proviso limiting eligibility for RoW services based on when a camp comes into existence. On April 30^th, Thurston County shared that WSDOT was intending to post notices to vacate on May 4^th. Notices were posted on this date, with a deadline to vacate of May 11^th.

On April 30th, Thurston County reached out to stakeholders to try to discuss other potential paths forward for supporting the camp. As a part of this, they shared interest in utilizing Homeless Service Emergency Fund dollars to support a path forward that would still enable at least some residents to be connected with indoor shelter and enhanced services prior to the camp’s closure. To make this happen, an organization would need to apply for the funds and the application would need to be reviewed by the Homeless Services Advisory Board (HSAB) and approved by the Regional Housing Council (RHC), which would take roughly 3- 4 weeks, minimum.

With this in mind, OlyMAP reached out to WSDOT leadership to request that they postpone the closure of the camp until mid-June or mid-July to allow time for an Emergency Funds application to be submitted and approved, in addition to allowing for the time needed to utilize the granted funds to connect people at the camp with shelter and enhanced services. WSDOT declined this request and communicated that they would be moving forward with the closure of the camp on May 11^th and no later.

WSDOT has claimed that they cannot delay closure of the camp due to safety and security concerns with the camp being located nearby a WSDOT facility. WSDOT was not aware this camp was located on their property nor were they taking any action to close the camp, until they learned that they were the property owners of the land the camp is located on in early April. To the best of OlyMAP’s knowledge, there have been zero security breaches or incidents with the facility tied to the residents of the camp.

WSDOT has also claimed that they cannot delay closure for fear of the camp growing or garbage accumulating. While the camp did increase from 10-12 households to 16 over the last 7 months, the camp population has remained static since February. Understanding that population growth would put the camp at risk, the existing residents have been working diligently to prevent the population from growing. Additionally, the residents have kept the area relatively tidy and clean, especially when compared to other camp locations that do not have access to garbage removal. OlyMAP also offered to provide garbage removal services for the camp, in the case that WSDOT supported any option for moving forward that would extend the time of the camp remaining on the property.

The concerns with and expected impacts of this action

Choosing to displace people when there are options available to connect people with shelter

In many cases, property owners decide to move forward with closure of a camp because there are no available resources or existing options for paths forward that would reasonably result in all or most people living at the camp being connected with shelter prior to closure. In this case, WSDOT was presented with not just one, but two, options for moving forward that would reasonably enable residents to move into shelter prior to closure. Instead, WSDOT made the decision to pursue neither of those options.

“Passing the buck” – using limited capacity and resources to make the issue someone else's concern rather than actually addressing the problem

Over the last year, rather than focusing limited resources and capacity on working with people living unsheltered along Percival Creek to connect them with indoor shelter, government entities have instead opted to pursue closures of spaces where people are staying without offering shelter alternatives, accomplishing nothing other than forcing people to move to someone else’s property. In order to protect the best interests of our clients, OlyMAP will not disclose where people are planning to relocate to. However, we are aware that current residents of this camp are planning to relocate to various locations, including property owned by the City of Olympia, City of Tumwater, the Department of Enterprise Services and other property owned by WSDOT. So, once again, the closure of this camp will fail to address the problem (people living outdoors because they have nowhere else to go) and simply force people to relocate to other people's property(ies), including properties owned by entities that displaced some of these very same people in the very recent past.

Causing avoidable harm and re-traumatization & disconnection from services

Every time someone is forcibly displaced, especially without being offered alternative shelter, they experience significant harm and trauma including, but not limited to – negative interactions with law enforcement and authorities, loss of belongings and loss of shelter. This further exposes people to other harms and risks such as exposure to the elements, aggravating physical and mental health conditions, and pushing people into more unsafe situations, like finding shelter in more isolated locations, exchanging sex for shelter or returning to abusive partners. All of this significantly and negatively impacts people’s ability to find safety and stability and to remain connected to services needed to support them in finding a path out of homelessness. When people are displaced without being offered alternative shelter, they lose connections with their providers and their service providers do not know where to find them – which, among other harms, can mean people missing referrals for shelter or housing. In past situations where camps have been closed without people being offered shelter, OlyMAP has lost connection with 50%-80% of those displaced, depending on the camp. The majority of residents are currently enrolled in OlyMAP's case management program and all residents are accessing basic shelter-in-place services through OlyMAP. The camp's closure puts connection to these services at risk.

Overall, actions like this severely and negatively impact people’s individual safety, stability, and ability to find paths out of homelessness and hamper our community’s efforts to effectively respond to the crisis of homelessness. As a result, they also negatively impact the safety and stability of our broader community by causing more people to live unsheltered for longer, with the greater strain on neighbors and community resources that that brings.

Timeline of Events

Late winter of 2024: Percival Creek is designated as a RoW location

Late winter of 2024 – October of 2025: Percival Creek campsites up to Tumwater city limits are systematically shut down by the City of Olympia. Majority of people are offered and connected with shelter. However, some people are also displaced without an offer of shelter.

October of 2025: The last section of the camp, before reaching Tumwater city limits, is shut down by the City of Olympia. At least 14 people are displaced.

November of 2025: OlyMAP begins providing outreach and case management services for people living further down the creek, some who are living on property owned by the City of Tumwater and the property that WSDOT is currently taking action to shut down. At the time, there were 10-12 households living on the property owned by WSDOT.

February of 2026: The City of Tumwater shuts down the camp located on City of Tumwater property along Percival Creek. At least 6 people are displaced. Some relocate to areas outside of Percival Creek, others move less than 100 yards away to the property owned by WSDOT, expanding that camp’s population to 16.

April 6^th : Residents of the camp community reach out to Northwest Justice Project to inform them that around 9:30 pm, multiple WSP troopers and WSP cars, accompanied by drones came into the camp to tell people that they would be returning with 24-hour notices to vacate the following morning and that the residents would have 24-hours from that point to vacate or face arrest.

April 7^th: OlyMAP reaches out to WSP, the City of Tumwater and the County in an attempt to gather more information about the situation and what is occurring. Thurston County and City of Tumwater share that they are unaware of any plans to close the camp and have no information. Thurston County reaches out to WSDOT for information, who also say that they do not have any information. OlyMAP speaks with WSP, who confirms that troopers did go out to the camp the previous evening to inform people that they would need to leave within 24 hours. However, WSP also shares that this action was taken by troopers without the authorization or knowledge of their supervisors and, as such, WSP will be “pulling the plug” on the closure and not moving forward with any closure at this time.

April 9^th : The City of Olympia is informed by WSDOT that they have learned that the property the camp is located on is in fact owned by them and express their intention to move forward with delivering 72-hour notices to vacate. Thurston County, City of Olympia and OlyMAP staff coordinate together and persuade WSDOT to pause on moving forward with the vacate notices and instead bring together stakeholders to discuss potential options for moving forward that might avoid displacement and instead, connect people with shelter.

April 13^th: A stakeholder meeting is convened to discuss options for the camp, attended by representatives from WSDOT, Thurston County, the City of Olympia, the City of Tumwater, Family Support Center and OlyMAP. The option of designating the camp as a RoW site, due to its location on WSDOT RoW property, is raised by Thurston County. If designated as a RoW site, people would be offered shelter at RoW-funded facilities, prior to the closure of the camp.

April 14^th: The proposal to designate the camp as a RoW site is brought to Thurston County’s bi-weekly RoW meeting, with the request made directly to the Department of Commerce. The Department of Commerce states that the site may be considered an RoW site, if WSDOT requests the designation. It is determined that it will take roughly until the end of April to make this determination.

April 23^rd: WSDOT informs others that they will not be requesting that the camp be designated as a RoW site, claiming that the site is “ineligible” despite being located on WSDOT RoW property. WSDOT and WSP return to the camp to inform people that they will be receiving notices to vacate within 1-2 weeks.

April 30^th: Thurston County reaches out to community partners to share that WSDOT will be posting notices to vacate at the camp on Monday, May 4^th. They also express interest in utilizing Homeless Services Emergency Fund dollars to support alternative options for connecting residents with shelter and services. For this to happen, an agency would need to submit a request and the application would need to go through a review process which would take 3-4 weeks minimum to complete.

May 4^th: WSDOT posts notices to vacate at the camp, with a deadline to vacate of Monday, May 11^th.

May 5^th: OlyMAP contacts WSDOT to request postponement of the closure of the camp until mid-June or mid-July to allow time for an emergency funds application to be submitted and approved, in addition to time to utilize the granted funds to connect people at the camp with shelter and enhanced services. WSDOT declined this request and communicated that they would be moving forward with the closure of the camp on May 11^th and no later.