The Seattle homeless man facing charges for carving out a hillside in a city park now appears to be homesteading there.
Officials charged Steven Irwin with property destruction for excavating the hillside in October. Following the incident, leaders with Seattle Parks and Recreation had to fork over $15,000 to fix the damage he allegedly incurred, WPDE reported Friday.
Now, he is building a cabin in Dr. Jose Rizal Park and claims he has permission to do so. According to Andrea Suarez of the homeless outreach organization known as We Heart Seattle, Irwin is undoing the expensive repairs and his homestead also poses a risk to himself due to the fuel he keeps and other hazards.
Suarez has tried to offer Irwin assistance, but her efforts have proved in vain. She recently told Fox 13:
He has job skills, he can run an excavator, he can build a home, he can install windows, let’s put him to work. Except he told me, “I don’t want to work. I want to be off the grid.” And he told me, “I don’t want a home, and if I did have a home I’d still have a cabin in the woods.” Because he’s just dead set on this is his right and it’s been hard to convince him otherwise unfortunately.
It appears Irwin is tired of being bothered by officials. He told the outlet, “Once I get this close to finishing, something happens.”
In addition, Suarez said Irwin believes there is a gold mine in the area and wants to find it to get rich.
Irwin was arrested, jailed, then freed in October after neighbors told police he was excavating some trees in the area. The man said at the time he was doing so to make room for his cabin.
Now, Suarez says, “This is a call to action by law enforcement and to Seattle Parks and Recreation to do something. I’ve even offered to pay for his first six months of housing, and he said, ‘That’s great. I’m still going to keep my cabin in the woods.'”
Suarez also told Fox 13 she is deeply concerned about Irwin’s safety if a fire were to break out at the cabin.
In May, a Rasmussen Reports poll found that 86 percent of Americans believe homelessness is a serious problem facing the nation, Breitbart News reported.
It is also important to note that data published in August revealed the nation’s homeless population is growing at a record pace, the outlet said.
The article also explained the news came as “President Joe Biden seeks hundreds of millions of American taxpayer dollars to fund a massive housing development plan for illegal aliens across the United States.”
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