Brown promises something ‘better than Prop 1’ as Spokane homeless camping proposal faces setback

Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown is still committed to delivering her Prop 1 replacement camping ordinance.

The signature proposal failed in a 3-4 vote Monday before Councilwoman Lili Navarrete revived debate over the controversial pitch.

The quest for a new camping ordinance comes after voters in 2023 passed Proposition 1, which outlawed camping within 1,000 feet of schools, parks or playgrounds. The Washington State Supreme Court overturned the popular ballot box item that earned 75% approval by voters fed up with open drug use on city streets and homeless camps in public spaces.

Brown’s replacement would have allowed anyone illegally camping on public property up to seven days’ notice ahead of any enforcement action. During that time, the city’s homeless outreach team and other service providers would have offered services to the camper, and would not write them a ticket if they accepted the offer of help.

After the failed vote, Brown spoke on the phone with councilman Paul Dillon and Council President Betsy Wilkerson to understand what went wrong. They then informed her of their intent to have the vote reconsidered, she said.

Brown’s initial ordinance opted to allow for the notice of up to seven days to give her administration greater ability to prioritize enforcement to the worst offenders. The goal would not be to allow each encampment a full seven-day warning, but to allow for those enforcing the ordinance to have flexibility.

“I would prefer more administrative flexibility versus having things pinned down in ordinance that make the city subject to liability if you can’t make a three-day deadline,” Brown said.

The mayor plans to implement whatever compromise council approves.

“We’ll come up with something better than the status quo and better than Prop 1,” she said. “What I think will ultimately end up getting passed by council will be citywide. It will address both camping and obstruction of public right of way. And I believe it will be easier to enforce because it will just be one standard city wide.”

The downtown business community has urged council and the mayor to exempt downtown from the camping policy and allow law enforcement action to either arrest someone or move them along from the property without the delay of social service outreach.

Brown said she will work with downtown businessowners to allocate “additional specialized resources” towards the center core, but that any camping policy needs to be uniform across the city.

“It’s important to the rest of the city that we put a citywide camping and obstruction ordinance in place so we’re not singularly focusing on downtown and homeless people end up migrating to other parts of the city,” she said.

While the mayor’s Prop 1 replacement failed to pass Monday, two related policies were approved in 5-2 votes.

The Home Starts Here initiative is a broad outline of goals the city has to improve housing affordability and prevent homelessness.

Some goals outlined in the ordinance include prioritizing access to behavioral health substance use disorder treatment services, increasing the number of exits from the homeless crisis response system to permanent housing and facilitating the construction of housing at all income levels.

These and other goals outlined in the ordinance are subject to a city council report twice per year that adjusts funding and resources.

Before it was approved, Dillon said the HOME ordinance codifies “practices the city has been doing” and brings the city’s homeless prevention plan under one umbrella.

While saying many of the goals in the bill were “very good ideas,” he added the broad outline has “zero specificity.”

“If you are going to adopt something into code, there should be some specificity.”

Council also passed a bill creating “good neighbor agreements” aimed at fostering communication among emergency shelter or transitional housing facilities and the neighborhood in which they are based.

Parties to this agreement are required to establish and maintain regular points of contact for communications on a seven-day, 24-hour basis to address any public health and safety issues arising from the operation of the facility.

This requirement applies to city-funded facilities that receive more than $50,000 in funding for a given calendar year. It also would not apply to transitional housing scatter sites with less than 20-person occupancy.

At the meeting, Councilman Michael Cathcart said these agreements are a “cathartic opportunity” for residents to express frustration but not an effective vehicle for change to a site that is not working with the community properly.

Councilman Zack Zappone said the ordinance was drafted “in alignment with extensive community outreach.”