City council condemns acts of Oly Housing Now, mayor labels hotel takeover ‘domestic terrorism’

At last night's meeting, Olympia City Council members had strong words for the group Oly Housing Now, following Sunday's occupation of the downtown Red Lion Inn & Suites, with perhaps the harshest sentiment coming from Mayor Cheryl Selby, who called the group’s actions domestic terrorism.

Oly Housing Now is accused of organizing an illegal occupation of the Red Lion Hotel on Sunday. Police say multiple members of the group carried weapons like batons and clubs, and that one person was threatened with a knife. Meanwhile, members of Oly Housing Now and some who attended protest activity outside the hotel said the police’s narrative was inflated. Ten people have been arrested. 

While all councilmembers voiced disappointment over the incident, Councilperson Renata Rollins took the most time as she read a prepared statement condemning the group.

“The group’s demands made no sense,” she said. “They read like they were copied and pasted from some other community’s struggle, because whoever penned them had no concept or context for what’s actually going on in Olympia, in Thurston County. Staggeringly out of touch.”

Oly Housing Now demanded Thurston County Health Department apply for FEMA funding for COVID-19 prevention sites and shelter for people 65 years or older, Olympia stop sweeps of and provide resources to encampments, support homeless people with hotel vouchers, “increase impact fees on luxury and commercial property” in downtown Olympia and incentivize housing construction for people with low incomes.

Rollins said that many of the houseless people who were at the hotel on Sunday were not privy to the group’s plans, and were thrust into the situation, thinking they were in-store for a free stay in a hotel. Interim Police Chief Aaron Jelcick said the same during a press conference on Monday. He noted that none of the houseless people were arrested in connection to the occupation, but some were arrested on unrelated accusations and warrants.

“To learn of houseless defendants showing up in court yesterday with overworked public defenders while the housed radical activists brought private attorneys, well that says a lot, doesn’t it?” Rollins said.

Emma Deitz with Oly Housing Now spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, saying that claims the group was violent were untrue and that no one threatened staff at the hotel. Additionally, she said conditions in the various encampments within the city are often unsafe and unsanitary, and called on the city to do more. She doubled down on the group’s demands, reading them again.

Other members of the public spoke about the incident. Tierra Watkins said Oly Housing Now’s actions brought awareness to an issue, and asked why information on the city’s homeless response wasn’t readily available.

“If the application for FEMA funding is pending, we would like to be informed of the stages of the process and we want as much information as you can give us,” Watkins said.

Nolan Hibbard-Pelly said he was at the hotel during the day, and saw people peacefully waving signs.

“I really don’t appreciate how the mayor called them terrorists because that’s often a term that’s used against enemies of the state, and I don’t think calling housing activists or people that spray paint your house that is really appropriate,” Hibbard-Pelly said, referring to an incident over the summer where Selby remarked that people who spray painted her house were committing acts of domestic terrorism.