Stop the Sweeps Seattle
Stop the Sweeps Seattle is a left-of-center activist organization that opposes the removal of homeless encampments and seeks to prevent homeless people from being moved to city-operated shelters. Based in Seattle, Washington, Stop the Sweeps Seattle argues that removing homeless encampments is “violence.” The organization provides homeless people with safe-injection kits to reduce harms from drug use and opposes the enforcement of federal immigration laws in Seattle by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 1 2 3
Contents
Activities
Stop the Sweeps Seattle is a Seattle, Washington-based activist group that opposes the clearing of homelessness encampments, also called “sweeps.” Stop the Sweeps Seattle alleges that removing homeless encampments constitutes “violence directed at our unhoused neighbors.” 1
Stop the Sweeps Seattle hosts harm reduction kit-making parties, where volunteers create drug use kits for homeless people, including alcohol wipes, anti-overdose drugs, and drug-use pipes. The organization also hosts virtual meetings to inform attendees on how to help the homeless who have faced sweeps. 1
Stop the Sweeps Seattle also reportedly conducts food distribution to the homeless every Sunday evening in downtown Seattle. Along with food, the organization also offers the homeless clothes, hygiene products, wound care, and “safer injection kits.” 4
In August 2025, Stop the Sweeps Seattle urged supporters to “fight back” against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for detaining illegal immigrants, stating that “NO ONE IS ILLEGAL ON STOLEN LAND” while describing immigration enforcement as fascist. In another social media post, Stop the Sweeps approvingly republished a quote that said the “global system upheld by the U.S….has generated harm across the world” and that the U.S. federal government “looks like rising fascism.” 3 5
In August 2025, Stop the Sweeps Seattle hosted a rally at the Seattle City Hall to promote an increase in homeless shelters. 6
In June 2023, Stop the Sweeps Seattle reportedly disrupted speakers and chanted angry slogans at an event with Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell in response to the mayor’s plan to end drug use, crime, and homelessness in downtown Seattle. Stop the Sweeps Seattle was also accused of moving homeless campers to other parts of the city during encampment removals to help the homeless avoid moving into shared shelters offered by the city. 2
Stop the Sweeps Seattle was created at least by 2021, though the group reportedly was revitalized in 2023 in response to an alleged increase in the removal of homeless encampments in the city of Seattle under Mayor Bruce Harrell. 7 8
Affiliated Organizations
Stop the Sweeps Seattle partners with Real Change News, a local left-of-center news source in Seattle, Washington, that is the project of Real Change Homeless Empowerment Project, also known as Real Change, a Seattle-based nonprofit. Real Change focuses on providing jobs and publication opportunities for low-income and homeless people and promotes the left-of-center principles of economic, social, and racial justice. Real Change News promotes Stop the Sweeps Seattle as an organization for readers to engage in “mutual aid.” 9 10 11 12
Stop the Sweeps Seattle is also a part of the Services Not Sweeps Coalition. The Services Not Sweeps Coalition advocates a ban on the removal of homeless encampments during the winter and extreme weather events. Other members of the Services Not Sweeps Coalition include Real Change, Washington Can, Transit Riders Union, Be: Seattle, Nickelsville, Sweepless in Seattle, Wheel, SHARE, Washington Health Outreach, Black Star Farmers, and the National Vehicle Residency Collective. 13 14