(The Center Square) – Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown signaled support on Thursday for a state proposal to limit the ability to enforce local camping bans, but raised concerns about how it could impact Spokane.
Brown attended the Spokane Homeless Coalition’s monthly meeting on Thursday to provide an update on the city’s programs. It came days after state lawmakers advanced House Bill 2489, setting it up for a potential floor vote later this session, after years of Democrats proposing other iterations of the bill.
HB 2489 would prohibit the enforcement of camping bans unless local taxpayers can afford to provide “adequate” shelter to everyone in that jurisdiction. The bill requires cities to provide free shelter while accommodating all pets, partners, “other support persons,” all of an individual’s belongings, and more.
“[Rep. Mia Gregerson, D-Seattle,] wants to establish a statewide standard so that local governments are not cracking down through enforcement only on unhoused population, essentially pushing them into neighboring communities without providing services,” Brown told those attending Thursday.
“That’s the goal, which I support; the actual language has some concerns for us in Spokane,” she said.
The Spokane City Council amended Brown’s camping ban last fall after it resulted in zero citations and service referrals. The new version has led to more than a 300% increase in citations and hundreds of homeless people accepting services. Many residents are concerned that HB 2489 will undo all of that.
Brown’s camping ban required officers to offer services before citing someone for public camping. The issue was that it allowed individuals to refuse services and walk around the corner to avoid a citation.
Police Chief Kevin Hall described it as essentially unenforceable before the council amended it last fall.
Brown said Thursday that she believes there is a role for law enforcement in addressing homelessness.
She wants to strike a balance between services and enforcement with an “all of the above” approach, and expressed concerns about language in the bill that “inadvertently disrupts or sets [the city] back.”
According to a letter obtained by The Center Square, Brown told Gregerson how she felt about the bill on Jan. 29, the day before two city council members sent a letter asking Olympia to kill the proposal.
“HB 2489 hinders the ability of locally elected officials to effectively govern,” Council President Betsy Wilkerson and Councilmember Michael Cathcart wrote. “We deem it essential to adopt a position of opposition with respect to HB 2489 before the Washington State Legislature considers the information.”
Brown offered a different tone in her own letter to Gregerson, noting that the city “shares your goal” of ensuring a local commitment to offering services as “an alternative to merely criminalizing people.”
The mayor went on to explain how the city has expanded services recently under her administration.
“We are concerned that HB 2489’s narrow definition of ‘adequate alternative shelter space’ as a prerequisite for the enforcement of public property regulations overlooks other critically important interventions,” Brown wrote to Gregerson last week. “I would welcome the opportunity to share ways the bill may better achieve the legislative intent of implementing evidence-based solutions.”
Barry Barfield, administrator of the Spokane Homeless Coalition, told The Center Square that he isn’t necessarily in support of or against HB 2489. He is all for expanding shelter services, but noted that the proposal doesn’t provide any additional funding to do that and could hamstring recent progress.
However, while more people are accepting services, he said that encampments are also being pushed along the North Spokane Corridor and into the wooded areas, offering two sides of the city’s situation.
Councilmember Paul Dillon offered a similar position on HB 2489 when asked by The Center Square.
Dillon told The Center Square that he understands the bill’s goals, but it doesn’t expand local funding.
He doesn’t think that HB 2489 will have enough support to pass this year. Notably, Reps. Natasha Hill and Timm Ormsby, who both represent the city of Spokane, are signed on as sponsors of HB 2489.
“While I recognize there’s much more work to be done to expand our infrastructure, we continue to review data across different indicators and we are best positioned to look at any necessary revisions in our city laws to adapt to changes and local trends for individuals experiencing homelessness,” Dillon told The Center Square. “That is why I believe these issues are best decided at the city level by electeds.”
