Concerns among some property owners and managers in downtown Redmond have been growing in the last two years as they have seen an influx of break-ins, thefts and other crimes on their properties and in their buildings.

On Wednesday morning, a group of these individuals met with City of Redmond staff to share the issues they have been facing.

Those in attendance said the problem stems from the opening of the Landing, an overnight emergency shelter for Friends of Youth (FOY), a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting youth and families in challenging circumstances — including homelessness. They said since the shelter opened two years ago, there has been a growing transient population in downtown Redmond and that has led to the crimes occurring on their properties.

SAFETY MEASURES

In addition to the break-ins and thefts, other issues attendees brought up included smoking in their hallways, restrooms being used by non-tenants and non-customers and mattresses being dragged into hallways and stairwells overnight.

While the meeting attendees were compassionate of people’s situations, they are reaching a breaking point as it is becoming detrimental to their businesses.

Steve Scott, who manages commercial property downtown, said it has gotten to the point that people don’t feel safe.

“They feel threatened,” he said about some of his tenants.

Others brought up some of the measures they have taken to help assure people’s safety.

Michelle Buehler, property manager at Red160 apartments, said her company has hired a full-time patrol person, which has been a hit to their budget.

“Two years ago, there was never one person panhandling,” she said about the differences between now and then.

Al Rosenthal, who owns an office building in downtown, has begun carrying a hammer on his tool belt, saying he is not looking to confront anyone, but he also wants to be able to defend himself if he needs to.

NOT A NEW PROBLEM

While the property owners and managers point to the Landing as the source of the problem, members of the Redmond Police Department (RPD) at the meeting said while homelessness is not new to Redmond, they cannot answer why it hasn’t been as visible as it is now.

“We’ve had homeless in Redmond as long as I’ve been here,” said Cmdr. Mark Hagreen.

Hagreen has been with RPD for about three decades and said when he started with the department, there was only one traffic light in town — things are very different now. He added that people will go where the services are and those services are usually in a city setting. Hagreen also recalled how earlier in his career, he and other officers would have to drive all the way to Seattle to drop homeless individuals off at shelters since there were none on the Eastside.

In response to attendees’ concerns about the shelter attracting transient youth from outside communities, Colleen Kelly, assistant director of community planning for the city, said about 38 percent of Landing guests are from Redmond and about 60 percent are from the greater Eastside area.

“There is not an easy answer to that problem,” she said.

The Landing serves young adults ages 18-24 and has enough space to provide 20 beds per night. If there are more individuals than there are beds, the shelter holds a lottery to determine who can stay.

The meeting attendees expressed their concerns about the people who are turned away as they feel those are the individuals who end up trespassing on their properties.

Nancy Osborn Nicholas, interim CEO at FOY, said when there are not enough beds for everyone, they try to find an alternative place for the youth to stay and help them get there.

In addition to providing youth a place to spend the night, Nicholas said FOY also offers services to help them get their lives back on track — whether that means moving back home, continuing their education or moving into transitional housing.

ADDRESSING THE ISSUES

Another topic of discussion at Wednesday’s meeting was what people can do to avoid becoming targets.

The police officers in attendance stressed the importance of having people call them if they ever have any problems.

Hagreen said while they cannot arrest anyone for being homeless — since that is not illegal — they can arrest someone if they exhibit illegal behavior such as trespassing.

RPD neighborhood resource officer David Sowers said one issue they come across on their end is business and property owners not wanting to press charges or have anyone arrested because they don’t want to be “mean.” He said unless the police are given the authority to trespass someone, there is not much they can do. And as a result, the transient individuals return because there is nothing stopping them.

Sowers said there are also some things property and business owners can do to make themselves less attractive. For example, he said many homeless young people used to camp out overnight outside the Redmond Regional Library. But after the library employees turned off the outside outlets, the campers no longer had anywhere to plug in their electronics and so they no longer congregate around the library.

The police said another reason Redmond may be attractive to the transient population is because it is an affluent community and people are willing to help by giving individuals money.

Instead of doing that, Kelly suggested giving that money to nonprofits and charities that address the problem.

One woman at the meeting — who did not want to be named — agreed, saying by giving the youth money, people are enabling them to stay homeless rather than seeking help or going back home to their families.

“You’re creating a situation,” she said.