Neighbors and advocates of those living in Olympia’s “The Jungle” reacted to news of the homeless encampment’s pending closure with dismay.
On Jan. 14, Olympia Mayor Dontae Payne announced during a Thurston County Chamber State of the Community address that city staff will begin work this year on a regional plan to address The Jungle, with a goal of closing the encampment in phases.
Some began to speculate about what closing The Jungle would look like, going so far as to assume the City of Olympia already had a closure plan in place and was ready to enact it.
Concerned neighbors and advocates of The Jungle’s residents flocked to the Olympia City Council’s Jan. 27 meeting to give public comment, urging the city to slow down on what they believed was an imminent closure plan and speak directly to Jungle residents about how to meet their needs during the process.
Payne addressed assumptions and rumors about plans to close The Jungle at the start of Tuesday’s Olympia City Council’s meeting.
“I want to clarify that the city is just getting started in this work. We are committed to working collaboratively with our regional nonprofit and service provider partners. Rest assured, no decisions have been made, including a timeline for when the encampment will close,” Payne said. “It's early days, and city and county managers are working with their teams to kick off the work to start developing a plan soon, and we do not anticipate a closing of the encampment this year.”
City Manager Jay Burney stressed that it will be at least 18 months to two years before any action to close The Jungle is taken.
“We want to look for options to care for people. We want to look for options to house people. We certainly want to hear from them and will as part of our plan efforts,” Burney said. “This will be a comprehensive plan that brings together the county and others. We're not going to do this alone, and we're going to attempt to do it in a way that's compassionate.”
After hearing public comment, Payne said that he included The Jungle in his remarks at the Jan. 14 State of the Community address “because the community cares about The Jungle. We have folks who are very concerned about the people who live there, and we have folks that are very concerned about communities, health and safety of that encampment.”
He added, “I'm not sure where the idea of doing things that are inhumane to our houseless residents in our community got attached to my comments. I have no idea where that came from. I will say that ever since I've been on this council, I haven't supported any type of approach to suddenly sweep one of our encampments in the city and just suddenly close it. So I certainly wouldn't start now.”
In October, the City of Olympia completed a 16-month closure of the Percival Creek Canyon homeless encampment as part of the city’s “One Community” plan, which implements a housing-first approach. Closing The Jungle is part of that same plan.
Many of Percival Creek Canyon’s residents were transitioned into housing ahead of the camp’s closure, but homeless advocates say some got lost in the shuffle, possibly ending up at The Jungle.
At a Lacey City Council meeting on Jan. 20, volunteers who deliver food and supplies to The Jungle told city council members that some former residents of the Desmond Drive homeless encampment that was shut down in 2024 had moved to The Jungle.
“The Jungle is a symptom of poverty, of housing scarcity, of a widening wealth gap, lack of access to quality mental health and substance use support, and it's grown even more in size due to other failed camp closures,” one public commenter told the Lacey City Council.
Burney encourages anyone with questions about The Jungle closure plan to contact him or Assistant City Manager Debbie Sullivan, who will lead the effort of working with other jurisdictions and community partners.
“I think this is going to take quite a long time to get from A to B, and we want to do it the right way,” Burney said.
