Spokane may add ‘housing status’ to list of protected classes amid homeless crisis

(The Center Square) – The Spokane City Council is considering an ordinance that would add “housing status” to the list of protected classes amid the city’s homelessness crisis.

Councilmember Lili Navarrete put the legislation together following last year’s resolution recognizing the “human rights and basic dignities of individuals experiencing homelessness.”

Navarrete’s new ordinance amends several sections of the Spokane Municipal Code while proposing an entirely new one. The measure intends to protect the homeless population and those lacking adequate housing against “discriminatory hiring and employment practices, property rights and privacy rights of individuals experiencing homelessness.”

Andres Gargeda, Navarrete’s legislative assistant, briefed the council on the proposed ordinance during Monday’s Urban Experience Committee meeting.

“We’ve had a lot of back and forth with [the Legal Department] with this ordinance,” Gargeda said on Monday. “We’ve talked extensively; they’ve looked over it several times.”

The ordinance builds on an existing list of prohibitions, such as prohibiting employers from advertising jobs that exclude people with a criminal record, asking any questions about their criminal activity, using, distributing or disseminating an employee’s criminal record, and disqualifying a candidate prior to an in-person interview because of an arrest.

Navarrete’s measure adds that employers cannot reject or disqualify an applicant because they don’t have a fixed residence or are homeless, “unless the individual’s housing status has a bona fide and legitimate relation to the primary duties of the job and such rejection or disqualification would also violate state or federal employment laws or regulations,” according to the draft.

Other protected classes in the SMC include race, religion, creed, color, sex, nationality, marital status, familial status, domestic violence victim status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran/military status, refugee status and sensory, mental and physical disability status.

However, the new section in the ordinance would enact additional protections outside of employment. It adds that homeless individuals have just as much right as anyone else to use public infrastructure and restricts the city from denying that right.

The new protections continue on to include the right to be free from “unreasonable searches of their person or property when seeking or receiving homelessness services, including shelter services.”

The new section does include a severability provision, meaning that a court striking a portion of it wouldn't void the entire policy.

During an earlier meeting on Monday, the council also received an update from Mike Piccolo, Spokane’s city attorney, who said there are no legal barriers to enforcing Proposition 1, the city’s voter-approved camping ban that essentially criminalizes homelessness.

Last November, 75% of Spokane voters passed Proposition 1, but the Spokane Police Department never enforced the decision due to a prior Supreme Court ruling; however, it was overturned a few weeks ago, allowing SPD to fully-enforce the law moving forward.

Still, despite SPD Interim Chief Justin Lundgren previously stating that officers would enforce “as able and warranted,” Communications Manager Julie Humphreys said the department is telling officers to hold off on enforcing Proposition 1 until they receive additional training.

Humphreys said she cannot comment on or confirm whether Mayor Lisa Brown pressured SPD not to enforce Prop 1, which is a concern among the business community and many residents.

“SPD can begin issuing citations under [ Proposition 1’s provision ] following implementation and understanding of a Training Bulletin for officers that is currently being updated and distributed,” Humphreys wrote in an email. “Officers may come upon illegal camps on their own, or be made aware of illegal activity via citizen complaints and will respond as able and warranted.”