Washington state spent over $700,000 on giant boulders to deter homeless encampments

• Washington state spent over $700,000 on boulders to deter homeless camps in some areas.
• Some have criticized the spending and the message it sends to the homeless.
• But one official told BI the state first offered shelter to the homeless, and a majority accepted it.

Washington dropped a hefty amount of taxpayer money to prevent homeless encampments across the state.

The state spent approximately $718,000 on large boulders placed along areas where homeless people had previously congregated and camped, particularly near busy highways.

Some residents appeared conflicted about the spending and the message it sends to the homeless, with one resident telling local news outlet Fox 13 Seattle that the money could have been spent in better ways. To BI, state officials emphasized the resources and planning that went into finding better solutions for the homeless community before placing the boulders.

Before the boulders were placed, the state administration offered shelter to the homeless, which a majority of them accepted, Kris Abrudan, communications director of Washington State Department of Transportation, said in a statement to BI.

"Rocks are being used at very specific locations to prevent re-encampment and that use is quite small relative to the number of encampments we have across the state," Abrudan said.

The state's Encampment Resolution Program "offers a humane approach to successfully resolving encampments," Abrudan said, adding the program has addressed 33 encampment sites across the state thus far.

Abrudan said the people who were living in those areas "had meaningful access to the housing and services they need to stay inside and that program has been quite successful."

The state placed boulders in areas near the state capital of Olympia and along Interstate 5. Two sites along the highway were once home to over 200 people living a short distance from the busy interstate, Abrudan said.

After relocating people to shelters, the state embarked on trash cleanup, vegetation management, and fence repairs, Abrudan said, noting the state legislature allocated a total of $12 million towards WSDOT's clean-up efforts.

"Most of those boulders were placed last fall and between that work and monitoring the sites, they have not been re-encamped," Abrudan said, pointing to November 2023 statistics. "1,068 people accepted offered housing and 836 people – 78 percent – remain housed as of end of the year. To me, that's the real story; the boulders are just part of it."