Spokane City Council declines resolution supporting enforcing homeless camping law

(The Center Square) – The Spokane City Council on Monday declined an opportunity to call on the police department to commit to enforcing a voter-approved law banning camping in much of the city.

The city council deferred Councilmember Jonathan Bingle’s resolution indefinitely, meaning it might not see the light of day again, despite so many taking issue over the lack of enforcement regarding Proposition 1.

Last November, 75% of those who took to the the polls decided to pass Proposition 1, which expanded camping restrictions to include anywhere within 1,000-feet of a park, school or daycare. Still, it was never fully enforced due to the Ninth Circuit's Martin v. Boise ruling.

However, the recent Grants Pass v. Johnson decision overturned the prior ruling that held cities can’t enforce anti-camping ordinances without enough shelter beds for their homeless population. This means that municipalities nationwide can outlaw sleeping outdoors in public places.

“Three weeks ago, I reached out to the mayor and her office and [said], ‘Hey, I have this resolution; I think this is a great thing for us as a city,’” Bingle said on Monday. “[I] spoke directly with the mayor and her team about this specific issue, and the reassurance I was given was we are enforcing Prop 1.”

After the Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling, SPD released a statement that “officers will respond to illegal camping complaints as able and warranted;” however, once City Attorney Mike Piccolo said there was, in fact, no legal challenge to enforcing Proposition 1, SPD clarified their stance and said they “will” enforce, not that they “are” enforcing.

Earlier this month, SPD Communications Manager Julie Humphreys said the department was advising officers to hold off until they complete a new training bulletin. Still, even the city council thought officers were enforcing the law after SPD’s initial statement.

“[I] finally had a one-on-one with the mayor on Thursday and said, ‘Hey, if we make a public statement about this, I will pull this resolution,’” Bingle said. “And that didn’t come.”

Bingle later referred to an informal newsletter that includes more than 200 community members, including state and city officials, developers, real estate brokers and other business leaders. He said the group is fed up with the lack of enforcement over Proposition 1, despite trying to collaborate with Brown on several occasions.

A few weeks ago, members of the newsletter thread even floated the idea of a recall petition to oust Brown from office.

Councilmember Michael Cathcart said with 75% of voters deciding to pass Proposition 1, it’s clear what the constituency wants and that’s for SPD to enforce the law. He mentioned that with 75% voter approval, even Brown’s supporters elected to pass the public camping ban.

“What are we deferring it for? What’s the question,” Cathcart asked the rest of the council. “There’s no reason to defer something that cannot be removed from law unless we don’t plan to actually enforce it; unless we don’t plan to actually utilize the tool that 74.66% of our community, 52,000 people, said that we should have.”