The poor do not need our charity as much as they need justice. The primary focus of the Bible, the notion of salvation, is, concretely speaking, about justice, the restoring of the outcast back into community. The Bible is concerned with this world, and its core message is justice for the poor as the sign of salvation.
Within the Bible is the message of Jubilee, a blueprint of what economic justice looks like. The Jubilee was a legislative process that put a cap on wealth and a floorboard under poverty. Every 50 years' debt was forgiven and wealth redistributed. In the agrarian culture of that time, the economic center was the family group and the source of wealth and sustainability was land. Even if the family fell into debt and lost their land, every Jubilee the land would be returned to the family.
The early Jesus movement, as evidenced at Pentecost, practiced Jubilee among its members. Later, John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) wrote, "This is also theft, not to share one's possessions. Not to share our own wealth with the poor is theft from the poor." Basil of Caesarea (c. 329-379) wrote, "That bread which you keep belongs to the hungry; that coat which you preserve in your wardrobe, to the naked; those shoes that are rotting in your possession, to the shoeless; that gold which you have stored away, to the needy." Thomas Aquinas said, "In cases of need all things are common property, so that there would seem to be no sin in taking another's property, for need has made it common."
Or, in our context, if the City of Seattle has property belonging to the commonwealth of its citizens -- for example Port property -- but a group of homeless poor need land to organize shelter, then it should be a God-given right for the poor to use the land for their survival. In other words: Nickelsville would be a living sign of God's salvation at work right in front of our eyes.
To be fair I say the same thing about church property. If church buildings stand empty at night, but the homeless poor have no place to lay their head, they have a God-given right to break in for shelter. For Christians the poor are of sacred wealth, and we are accountable for how they are treated in society.
The salvation message of the Church is about justice. And justice is always about reconciled relationships so that each person has a place at the table, a name that is known and assets that are to be used for the common good. Nickelsville is simply seeking an opportunity to survive, to become members of the larger community. In this they are embodying the will of God. The question for both Christians and citizens is basic: Do the poor have a right to life?
Whose side are you on?