By
Celia Hunko
October 12, 2007
The UW administration is requesting 13 sex-offender residents in the U-District be out by the end of the month, a request that is in accordance with their new safety plan for the area.
Carol Clarke, the owner of the five houses in which these residents live, is "fighting" to keep her tenants.
The houses are all located north of Northeast 45th Street.
Clarke, who is a long-time resident of the neighborhood, said that she won't rent to sophomores and freshmen because they generally aren't good tenants.
"Students need to fear students more than they need to fear my tenants," she said.
The UW received backing from the governor to have the residents moved out.
"It is part of the new safety plan," said Holly Armstrong, communications director for the governor. "It's about making decisions that make the community a safer place."
Clarke describes her relationship with her tenants to be one of "tough love." She maintains very strict rules in the house that are in accordance with the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) rules: no drugs, no alcohol, no parties and you must have a job.
Clarke interviews the people very thoroughly before she allows them to rent from her.
"I read their records, I talk to them, I check in on their treatments," she said. "These are people who are generally sorry and are working to change their lives. How can we just kick them to the curb?"
Clarke's home offers a safe place for these individuals to turn their lives around.
"These are people who have accepted responsibility, they are committed to change and they come out [of treatment] with the right tools to do so," said Chaplain Gary Friedman, chairman of Jewish Prisoner Services.
Friedman says the residents are under many levels of supervision. If anyone is out of line, Clarke is the first to hear about it. The DOC has keys to all the houses and can come in unexpected night or day, the Seattle Police department detectives check in with the residents under supervision on a regular basis, Clarke and her manager maintain their strict rules and they have each other.
"They all want to protect what they have," Clarke said.
Finding a place that can replicate the kind of community that is being built in Clarke's home will be hard to find.
"It's going to be a challenge [to find the residents a place to live]," Armstrong said. "It is something that the DOC is going to have to work on. But, from the governor's perspective, she believes that this is the right course of action."
These residents have been in the area since 2000 without any record of incidents with any students, and now must leave a place they have learned to call home.
"These guys are just trying to get their lives together," said senior Tyler Jones, an economics major, who lives next to one of Clarke's homes on the 4700 block.
"They have been good neighbors to us," said Jordan Lavine, who also lives next door to one of Clarke's homes.
With the end of the month drawing near, Clarke is about to lose one-third of her income, and these 13 residents will lose a place to live.
"How are you supposed to survive?" asked one of the members of Clarke's home who asked to remain anonymous. "If you lose your housing, you lose your job. ...people just start to give up."
As these residents that are considered by some to be a safety threat move out of their $395 rooms including utilities, some worry who is going to move in.
"I am worried about who is going to move in after these guys leave. I know she is renting to these guys for a really reduced rate," Jones said. "These guys are good neighbors and they are respectful. ... I just hope the best for them, because they seem like decent guys."
[Reach reporter Celia Hunko at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]
6 Comments
#1 Tim, UW Alumn '06
on October 12, 2007 at 10:48 a.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
The UW Administration and the Governor's Office should be ashamed of themselves. I lived on 18th street a year during my time as an undergrad and advocates for the homes are right: These guys are the least of the neighborhoods worries. According to a different article, not a single resident has ever reoffended.
#2 Anonymous
on October 12, 2007 at 11:05 a.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
As a woman in my early twenties living by this halfway house, I was very upset by this article. This has been one in two articles this week criticizing ASUW legislation on lobbying to move the halfway house that are located on 47th and 18th Ave to a location further away from students. This halfway house neighbors four sororities and other off-campus housing that have been habited by UW students for a longer time than the 2000 move-in by the halfway house, some that have been housed by students for over 100 years. By naively describing the sex offenders and their desperate want for change who, “are generally sorry and are working to change their lives,†the Daily forgets to add that sex offenders are the most likely offenders to repeat their offenses out of anyone with a criminal record. Just because a UW student does not register the offense does it mean that these sex offenders are not recommitting their crimes, especially when sex crimes are the least reported crimes in the United States. Not only this, but also on the block from 45th and 18th Ave to 50th and 18th Ave, there is a higher concentration of registered sex offenders living in this area than any other area in Washington state. Personally, I am more concerned about these registered sex offenders that live in this halfway house than the recommended, “need to fear students more than they need to fear my tenants.†I would like to see an article from the Daily that addresses the concerns of many students from around this area and that of ASUW, rather than romanticizing the life of redemption that these sex offenders have supposedly reached. As a previous victim of a sex crime and a neighbor to these offenders, I feel that the Daily is being very naïve about this issue and not addressing what needs to be addressed; the safety and well being of its fellow students.
#3 Apu Mishra
on October 12, 2007 at 1:55 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
It is cruel of UW to demand that sex offenders in the U District who have lived here without incident since 2000, and who have a rare safe haven in the accomodation provided by Carol Clarke, move out. Where exactly are they supposed to go? It is hard enough for a sex offender to find housing of any kind, much less a landlady who takes a special interest in their rehabilitation. They are likely to end up on the streets and/or back into a life of crime.
Sex offenders are a special class of criminal in our society, more so than murderers. Study after study shows that women are more at risk from their boyfriends and close relatives than from strangers, yet we continue to buy into the false Evil Stranger bogeyman.
To kick out people who are in a rehabilitation setting and who have not reoffended for many years will not make the U District a safer place, it merely makes us hateful and selfish people.
#4 Kat
on October 13, 2007 at 11:28 a.m.(Tacoma, WA | Unverified Name)
I totally agree with this comment:
"Anonymous - 10/12/07
As a woman in my early twenties living by this halfway house, I was very upset by this article. This has been one in two articles this week criticizing ASUW legislation on lobbying to move the halfway house that are located on 47th and 18th Ave to a location further away from students. This halfway house neighbors four sororities and other off-campus housing that have been habited by UW students for a longer time than the 2000 move-in by the halfway house, some that have been housed by students for over 100 years. By naively describing the sex offenders and their desperate want for change who, “are generally sorry and are working to change their lives,†the Daily forgets to add that sex offenders are the most likely offenders to repeat their offenses out of anyone with a criminal record. Just because a UW student does not register the offense does it mean that these sex offenders are not recommitting their crimes, especially when sex crimes are the least reported crimes in the United States. Not only this, but also on the block from 45th and 18th Ave to 50th and 18th Ave, there is a higher concentration of registered sex offenders living in this area than any other area in Washington state. Personally, I am more concerned about these registered sex offenders that live in this halfway house than the recommended, “need to fear students more than they need to fear my tenants.†I would like to see an article from the Daily that addresses the concerns of many students from around this area and that of ASUW, rather than romanticizing the life of redemption that these sex offenders have supposedly reached. As a previous victim of a sex crime and a neighbor to these offenders, I feel that the Daily is being very naïve about this issue and not addressing what needs to be addressed; the safety and well being of its fellow students."
#5 jooker
on October 23, 2007 at 11:32 p.m.(Taiz, Yemen | Unverified Name)
hiiiiiiiiiiiii
#6 ANONYMOUS
on December 21, 2007 at 11:18 a.m.(Winston Salem, NC | Unverified Name)
THE TWO FEMALES WHO THINKS THE OFFENDERS SHOULD MOVE BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN OFFENDED, IS WANTING TO PUNISH PEOPLE FOR WHAT HAPPEN TO THEM. IF THESE PEOPLE (CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF THAT OFFENDERS IS NOT PEOPLE)HAVE LIVED IN THIS AREA FOR 7 YEARS AND NOT RELAPSE AND DONE IT AGAIN. THEY DESERVE THE RIGHT TO HAVE A PLACE TO STAY AND LIVE. NOW WHEN YOU SHOULD WORRY IS THE ONES YOU DO NOT KNOW IS OFFENDERS. THEY ARE ON THE DEBATE TEAMS, FOOTBALL TEAMS, BASKETBALL TEAMS, YOUR CLASSROOMS, YOUR DORMS, AND OTHER COMMON COLLEGE AREAS. THEY GET YOU DRUNK OR HIGH TO GET YOU TO LOOSEN UP. THAT IS WHO YOU SHOULD WORRY ABOUT OR HEY YOU MIGHT BE AN OFFENDER. SINCE YOU WANT TO TALK STATISTICS. STATISTICS WOULD TELL YOU THAT MOST OFFENDERS WERE VICTIMS AT SOME POINT IN THERE LIFE.
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