SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane City Council met Tuesday night to discuss the findings from their series of community roundtables on the city’s homelessness crisis.
The city hosted five roundtables, between September and December, with the goal of educating and gathering feedback from the community regarding the status of Spokane’s homelessness issue.
Over the course of the five roundtables, community members, local organizations, service providers and local businesses met with city councilmembers to discuss laws pertaining to homelessness, such as the city’s sit and lie ordinance and the pedestrian interference rule.
The sit and lie ordinance, which bans sitting and lying on the sidewalk, sidewalk features, building entryways, parking lots and loading docks between 6 a.m. and midnight in downtown Spokane, was a hot topic of discussion.
In October, Councilmember Jonathan Bingle proposed expanding the ordinance beyond downtown and applying it citywide.
During the roundtables, between 35-45 stakeholders were asked to rank their preference on the enforcement of the sit and lie boundaries.
“By and large, the stakeholders indicated that their choice was for sit and lie to be made citywide,” said Nicolette Ocheltree, the city’s manager of housing and homelessness initiatives.
A majority of stakeholders also said they don’t believe shelter bed availability should be checked prior to the enforcement of the law.
After results were presented on Tuesday night, people took to the podium to express how they think the council should move forward with helping Spokane’s unhoused population.
Jake Swartz, local business owner, said the issue really has to do with drug use and his employees feeling unsafe.
“Detox is the first way to do that. Offer them a choice for treatment, ongoing after detox, or, incarceration, but there has to be accountability,” he said.
Also discussed was legislation known as the ‘Homeless Bill of Rights,’ which is a proposed law that would add “housing status” to the city’s list of protected classes.
“We asked the Council to address, and make it codified into law, that our homeless neighbors have the same civil rights we all enjoy,” said Anwar Peace, Commissioner at City of Spokane Human Rights Commission.
The legislation was proposed by Councilmember Navarrete earlier this year but was deferred.
City Council will now use this feedback, and any additional feedback collected, to propose collaborative solutions to the city’s homelessness challenges.
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