Report Uncovers Antifa's Presence within Seattle Homeless Services

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SEATTLE — A recent report from two conservative think tanks has raised concerns over the presence of antifa members within the homeless services sector, particularly in Seattle. The study, conducted by the Capital Research Center and the Discovery Institute, suggests that these individuals are not only active in Seattle’s homeless initiatives but are also influencing similar sectors across the nation.

The findings indicate that activists have been interfering with volunteer efforts and have been a disruptive force during efforts to clean up homeless encampments. These actions support the report’s assertion that some militant activists are intentionally fostering unrest as part of a broader strategy to challenge governmental authority.

In early October, this report was brought to the attention of President Donald Trump, underscoring the severity of the claims. The document argues that these activists are using the homeless crisis as a means to further their antigovernment agenda by perpetuating disorder on the streets and hindering efforts to address homelessness.

Jonathan Choe, a researcher with the Discovery Institute who contributed to the report, elaborated on these concerns in an interview. He explained, “The homeless crisis is being used as a tool for political destabilization. The goal is to exploit the chaos, create more disruption, and ultimately destabilize the existing system even further.”

“It’s the same faction of people who link up and protest and do the black bloc, and they’re often the same people we see working inside social services, either as mutual aid or also employed there in the large nonprofits,” Andrea Suarez told .

Suarez, a Seattle Democrat who founded the volunteer organization “We Heart Seattle” to clean parks and encampments, said she has faced physical confrontations while doing cleanup work. “I’ve been attacked, my staff has been attacked, we’ve been pushed into traffic,” Suarez said.

“They’re like territorial over the homeless. They don’t want people to actually get help,” Suarez said. “They don’t want the city cleaned. Who in their right mind would come after a middle-aged woman for picking up trash?”

Suarez said some individuals participate in both protest activities and work within social services organizations.

She cited a flier titled “Plot Twist” that stated activists were shifting from property destruction to feeding homeless individuals and organizing mutual aid to “prove police obsolete.” The flier described creating “a world based on compassion and mutual aid” while warning that windows would still be broken at businesses deemed racist or those involved in homeless encampment removals.

Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild and a 26-year department veteran, said connections between activist groups and homeless advocacy organizations are evident. In 2020, the police union building was firebombed during civil unrest.

“The connection between the homeless industrial complex and the tie-in to antifa, it’s there, clear as day,” Solan said. “People that align themselves with socialist political ideology are the ones that are causing a lot of the energy around the anti-police, pro-homeless agenda, that aren’t interested in solving the problem.”

Multiple major nonprofit organizations providing homeless services in Seattle did not respond to requests for comment.

The Trump administration designated antifa as a terrorist organization last month. The movement has no publicly known central leadership structure, though smaller groups identify as antifascist and organize protests.