(The Center Square) – Just hours after her police chief deemed the policy unenforceable, Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown pledged Tuesday to revise her new camping ban so officers can cite for unlawful camping.
Business leaders pleaded with the Spokane City Council last summer to reinstate another camping ban approved by nearly 75% of voters, but the progressive majority refused. They decided to pass Brown’s proposal instead, despite having had an opportunity to restore the will of the people by a council vote.
Her camping ban includes provisions that allow individuals to avoid citations and prevent the Spokane Police Department from collecting data to track who they’re contacting. Notably, Brown and the council majority are facing an ethics investigation over how they went about passing her camping ban in June.
Police Chief Kevin Hall provided the council with his 90-day review on Monday, arguing that provisions around compliance essentially make the policy unenforceable. The goal was to get folks to voluntarily accept services, but he said they just walk down the street instead and refuse housing and treatment.
“The message I want to deliver today is that the people of Spokane are united around the goals of ending public camping,” Brown told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday. “We know that it’s inhumane for those individuals and has secondary impacts on the rest of the city and our businesses.”
She emphasized the need to restore order in Spokane by eliminating the narcotics market and holding those who refuse services accountable. Brown said Spokane doesn’t control the health care system or jail and other crisis responses, but argued that local partnerships could help move the needle forward.
Representatives from Providence, Catholic Charities and Digified Workday joined the mayor to reaffirm their commitment to helping people get off the street. Brown said that Catholic Charities will have four outreach teams with SPD to direct people camping around Spokane into the housing navigation center.
The navigation center acts as the funnel for the rest of Brown’s scattered-site shelter system. Staff will then take people there and connect them to other services. Hall said what makes this different is that officers will have discretion under the modified camping ban to decide whether or not to offer services.
“There’s no one thing that’s going to solve all of the issues that we are faced right now,” he explained, “but giving officers the ability to use the HOME ordinance to enforce will be a tool that they can use to leverage folks to get to this facility to reengage with their caseworkers to get hooked up with services.”
According to a press release, the council will amend the camping ban after considering feedback from the community, business owners and SPD. The dais will have to approve the final version, so nothing is set in stone yet, though Hall did tease a high utilizer program that he is developing with Providence.
He has a list of offenders that SPD and other emergency responders encounter most frequently, and has worked out a deal with the downtown jail to reserve 10 beds for them. Hall said each has charges and will go to jail until “they’re stabilized to a point” where they can make decisions about their own care.
“These are the most chronic, highest acuity clients we have out there,” Hall said. “This is not going to be easy, and there are going to be missteps and failures, and people are going to be rearrested … we’re not going to fix it in one try, but we’re going to keep trying and keep trying and keep trying.”
Councilmembers Jonathan Bingle and Michael Cathcart, who represent the conservative minority, plan to reintroduce the voter-approved camping ban later this month. Businesses are still asking the officials to reinstate that law, but the majority signaled last week that it would rather amend Brown’s ordinance.
