Suddenly homeless in Seattle

December 3, 2007 6:46 AM

Friend in Seattle is suddenly homeless. Can anyone recommend some resources?

A friend of mine broke up with his girlfriend. He moved into his new apartment Friday and got all his stuff out of the storage unit and into the new apartment.

Today at 4am he wakes up to the sound of rushing water. The fire department tells him to grab his stuff and get out. He's got three bags of clothes and that's it. The area flooded and his apartment is now under 5+ feet of water. He didn't have renter's insurance.

The SFD tried to get ahold of the Red Cross but nobody answered. He does have a job, but obviously no apartment anymore. I just got off the phone with him and he hasn't talked to the landlord yet.

Has anyone been through something similar? Obviously he's learned a lesson about insurance, so let's leave that one alone if we can. Thanks in advance.

posted by Atom12 to home & garden (7 comments total)

Try the Red Cross again directly. They claim to be on call 24/7, and are routinely called to assist families who have been displaced by fire, flooding, or similar events. In my experience (elsewhere), they do respond to requests and it would be very strange for them to ignore or be unavailable for a call.
posted by itstheclamsname at 6:54 AM on December 3, 2007

I got flooded out of an apartment in Seattle, up in Greenwood strangely enough. I contacted the landlord directly and got my deposit back that day. I was (luckily) able to relocate within the week. I didn't have renter's insurance either.

Try the red cross again. And good luck to him.
posted by Pecinpah at 6:58 AM on December 3, 2007

If the apartment is underwater, the landlord may have some responsibility to put your friend up. The Tenants Union should be his first stop to figure that out. No sense couch surfing when the landlord might have to put him up in a hotel. They open at 3 pm today and I'd recommend walk-in as a better option than calling. He probably knows this but craigslist sublets is a decent place to find short term places to stay if he wants a place for more than a few nights. Stressing the "I have a job" and "I have a plan" parts of his situation would make it more likely that he could find a place.

That said, your friend needs a place tonight. I don't know if he's more comfortable staying in a cheap hotel [the Moore Hotel downtown and the green tortoise hostel are both reasonable], with a friend, or if he's looking at a shelter type situation. If the latter, the googleable terms are Emergency Housing. Here's the YMCAs page and here is the city of Seattle's page He'll aslo need to figure out just how bad things are with his ex. If it was a friendly breakup, their old place is a better deal than a shelter. Good luck to your friend, I know he's in a bad place and this is probably feeling like a kick in the ass, but Seattle is a resource-rich city and he shoudl be able to at least wind up with a decent place to sleep and advice about his next move.
posted by jessamyn at 7:03 AM on December 3, 2007

Seconding the Moore and Red Cross. Both are temporary. Send out an email blast to friends re: anyone have a sublet, extra room, space, furniture, kitchen equipment, etc. as well as a possible friend fundraiser (try to get a few bucks to ease the way).

Good luck!
posted by zerobyproxy at 7:16 AM on December 3, 2007

Thanks for the quick responses. He called and right now he's staying in an extended stay hotel in Linwood, so he's set for tonight.
posted by Atom12 at 7:31 AM on December 3, 2007

I was displaced by a fire in my (shared) rental years ago - and was lucky enough to find friends with an empty room to rent (and who liked cats!). The Red Cross paid for my first month's rent and security deposit. If your friend wants to scour Craigslist for a new rental, the RC might pay his first month's rent and SD for him.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:47 AM on December 3, 2007

There's a lot of flooding across the Northwest this morning, which could explain the difficulty of getting in touch with the Red Cross. But if your friend keeps trying, he should eventually get through to someone there who can help.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 11:30 AM on December 3, 2007