December 18, 2024
UW welcomes Tent City 3 back to campus
The UW will welcome back Tent City 3 — an organized tent-city community — to its Seattle campus for 90 days during winter quarter 2025. Move-in, shown here from 2016, is scheduled to begin Dec. 21.Dennis Wise/University of Washington
The University of Washington will welcome back Tent City 3 — an organized tent-city community — to its Seattle campus for 90 days during winter quarter 2025. Move-in is scheduled to begin Dec. 21, 2024.
The UW previously hosted Tent City 3 three times, in winter 2017, 2021 and 2023 at a variety of locations. This year’s site will be parking lot W41, located just west of Condon Hall.
Tent City 3 will provide safe, secure temporary housing for up to 100 people, while at UW.
The renewed partnership results from engagement by Huskies for Housing— a group of UW students who have been working with faculty and academic departments to bring Tent City 3 back to the UW.
The UW believes that Tent City 3 remains a valued partner due to its code of conduct and strong reputation for providing a safe and secure home for its residents. Many residents are employed, and some are families with children. For these families, and all of the residents, the tent-city community helps reduce their risk of being crime victims, which is more likely to happen to people experiencing homelessness.
Tent City 3’s code of conduct bans alcohol, drugs, weapons, violence and open fires. All prospective Tent City residents are checked for sex offender status; individuals on the registry cannot stay. The UW and Seattle Housing and Resource Effort or SHARE, which oversees Tent City 3, have created a new safety, hygiene and security plan and setting out mutual responsibilities during the hosting period.
The project relies on fundraisers by Huskies for Housing, as well as donations from individuals, student groups and professional organizations. The UW will not use tuition or taxpayer dollars for hosting.
To learn more about this partnership between the UW and Tent City 3, visit our FAQ or email regional@uw.edu. To learn more about the UW’s broader work on homelessness, visit Urban@UW’s Homelessness Research Initiative.
Huskies for Housing is organizing volunteers and fundraisers: Visit them on Instagram or email huskiesforhousing@uw.edu.
