Homeless, service providers protest impending clearing of Bellingham Walmart encampment

Unhoused encampment residents and homeless advocates gathered Saturday afternoon in Bellingham to protest the city’s policy of clearing encampments without providing a safe alternative place for the unhoused to go.

About 15 people stood on the corner of Meridian Street and E. Stuart Road in north Bellingham near the entrance to the large encampment located behind Walmart.

The group held signs saying, “Find a real solution,” “More housing, less sweeping,” “We matter too,” “We are someone’s loved one,” and “To go where?”

This comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed by the city against the property owner of the land with the encampment after months of complaints at City Council meetings from nearby businesses and residents expressing concerns about theft and safety.

“I just really feel like the ‘scooting and booting’ thing is not a good solution,” said homeless advocate and nonprofit founder Hanah Warthan at the protest on Saturday. “It’s just putting a Band-Aid on it. They need to come up with more housing availability and resources.”

Warthan organized Saturday’s protest. She started her nonprofit organization, Mission for Missy, to help address the fentanyl crisis locally and support people experiencing homelessness. She frequently provides food, clothes, Narcan and other resources to people living in the encampment behind Walmart.

“We’re trying to save lives here,” Warthan said.

Warthan specified that the goal of the protest was to encourage permanent housing solutions and opportunities for people to exit homelessness.

Residents of the encampment who attended Saturday’s protest echoed her desires for housing and support.

Many people living in the encampment relocated there from a former large encampment located behind WinCo in Bellingham that was cleared in May 2023 after the property owner was similarly sued by the city. Some told The Herald they have no plan for another place to go if the Walmart encampment is cleared.

Cody, whose last name we are omitting due to privacy concerns, told The Herald he has been living in the encampment behind Walmart with his mother for 16 years. Cody said he and his mother want to move into permanent housing as soon as possible.

“We just don’t want to be moved so soon with nowhere else to go,” Cody said.

Lily Salas, a lifelong friend of Warthan’s who attended the Saturday protest, told The Herald she wants people to know how easy it can be for someone living paycheck to paycheck to fall into homelessness. She hopes unhoused people can be treated with more compassion.

“People say, ‘Just pull yourself up by the bootstraps.’ But how are you supposed to pull yourself up if you have no boots?” Salas said.