In November, Spokane voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 1 — a citizen-led ballot initiative that massively expanded the parts of Spokane where someone can be punished for camping.
The law is now officially enshrined in Spokane's municipal code. But the city hasn't enforced it.
"I'm pretty close to folks from all sorts of organizations on the ground," says Ben Stuckart, the director of the Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium and former City Council president. "And I have not heard a single person come forward and say the camping ban resulted in any activity by the city."
Camping on public property is already illegal in Spokane. But police can only cite and arrest people for it if they've confirmed that one of the city's low-barrier shelters has space. The rule is there because of Martin v. Boise — a landmark 2018 9th Circuit Court decision that found that it's unconstitutional to punish people for sleeping somewhere if there's nowhere else for them to go.
The Martin ruling has murky legal language that still allows cities to ban camping in specific areas. In 2022, Spokane used that loophole to pass a law that lets police cite someone regardless of shelter space if they're within 50 feet of a railroad viaduct, three blocks of a homeless shelter or on the banks of the Spokane River.
Proposition 1 expanded those exemptions to anywhere within one thousand feet of a park, school or child care facility — an area covering nearly 64% of the city, and most of downtown. The law went into effect when the election was certified on Nov. 28.
But it's unclear when the law will actually be enforced.
"We respect the will of the voters, but there are pending legal challenges both in Washington state and the [U.S.]Supreme Court," says Erin Hut, Mayor Lisa Brown's spokesperson. "We want to make sure we understand the legal nuances before we make any specific moves."
'IN LIMBO'
Prop 1 was written by Brian Hansen, a local attorney and father who said he was concerned about children being exposed to drug paraphernalia and other issues associated with encampments. Larry Stone, a local businessman who owns the building that houses the city's East Trent Avenue homeless shelter, funded the signature gathering efforts necessary to place the initiative on the ballot.
The proposal prompted heated debate in the runup to the November election. Every single conservative running for city office supported it. Brown, who defeated the incumbent mayor, and all the other left-leaning candidates were opposed. They said it would face legal challenges and simply result in unhoused people being pushed around to other parts of the city.
Despite those concerns, the candidates who opposed the law said they still expected it to pass because voters are frustrated. They were right: Prop 1 passed with an overwhelming 75% of the vote.
Some of the businesspeople who championed Prop 1 say they're frustrated by the lack of action.
Chris Bell, a Realtor with NAI Black who sits on the Downtown Spokane Partnership board, says his concerns started coming to a head about a month ago, when he and other downtown businesspeople started noticing that nothing seemed to have changed.
"Everyone starts asking, 'Well, wait a second, are they even enforcing Prop 1?'" Bell says.
Bell says a police officer came to a DSP meeting earlier this month and told board members that things were essentially "in limbo."
"He's like, 'We have no guidance,'" Bell says.
Interim Police Chief Justin Lundgren says the initiative "is working its way through the courts with some challenges," and that it is "potentially one tool that we'll have in the community to address that problem."
Sheldon Jackson, the CEO of Selkirk Development who frequently emails city officials with concerns about camping and disorder downtown, says it would make sense if the city didn't enforce it because a court found it unconstitutional. But he thinks the possibility of legal challenges seems like an "excuse not to do what was passed."
Hut, Brown's spokesperson, disagrees.
"Essentially, right now, it's an issue of understanding the clarity of what's being worked through the courts," Hut says. "It poses a big legal risk to the city, and we want to make sure we are acting in good faith and are responsible with taxpayer dollars."
THE LOCAL CASE
Hut says the city is waiting to see how two court cases play out: one local, one national.
The first is a lawsuit challenging Proposition 1 that was filed this summer by Jewels Helping Hands, the homeless service provider that recently managed Camp Hope, and Stuckart.
Julie Garcia, the CEO of Jewels, argued at the time that the law would be ineffective and inhumane.
"I believe that people experiencing homelessness shouldn't be near schools either," Garcia said then. "But if you're going to tell people where they can't be, you have to tell them where they can be."
The lawsuit didn't challenge the constitutionality of the law itself. It argued that Proposition 1 shouldn't appear on the ballot because it went beyond the scope of what the initiative process allows.
In August, Spokane County Superior Court Judge Tony Hazel denied the plaintiffs' request to remove it from the ballot. He said the law might face challenges because of Martin but that it would be improper for the court to rule on that before the election.
An appeals court upheld Hazel's ruling in December.
Hut says the city is waiting for a possible appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Knoll Lowney, one of the Seattle lawyers representing Jewels and Stuckart, confirmed that he plans to file an appeal with the state Supreme Court before the Feb. 26 deadline.
"We're hopeful that they will take up the case and rule that the initiative is outside the scope of the initiative process," Lowney says.
Stuckart says a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law itself isn't currently possible, since there aren't any examples of people being impacted by it.
"Somebody's got to show harm from it in order to have a valid case," Stuckart says.
NATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
The second case Hut mentioned is set to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court and could have sweeping consequences across the country.
In 2022, the 9th Circuit found that it was unconstitutional for Grants Pass, Oregon, to enforce its anti-camping laws. The ruling expanded the precedent set by Martin v. Boise, which found that the Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits cities from criminalizing public camping without sufficient shelter space.
The two intertwined cases have been a source of frustration for leaders in numerous Western cities.
In September, former Mayor Nadine Woodward joined leaders from Seattle, Las Vegas and more than a dozen other cities in signing an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the provisions of Martin and the Johnson v. Grants Pass case. The brief argued that the rulings "tie the hands of local policymakers and make solving this crisis harder."
The Supreme Court agreed to take on the Grants Pass case and is set to hear oral arguments in April.
If the court rules in favor of Grants Pass, it could overturn the precedent set by Martin and give Western cities the green light to pass sweeping camping bans citywide, and set a national precedent affecting all municipalities.
A different ruling could enshrine the precedent set by Grants Pass and Martin, which Hut says is "squarely at odds with the provisions of Proposition 1."
DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
When asked about Prop 1 last week, Brown stressed that the city's broader camping laws are being enforced. She says there have been close to 300 complaints about illegal camping so far this year, 277 of which were responded to by police.
The city's police and code enforcement departments have continued to clear encampments throughout the year — even during the January cold snap that sent temperatures plunging below zero and prompted a state of emergency.
Camping complaints often aren't responded to immediately because police prioritize calls where there's immediate danger to the public, Chief Lundgren said. He added that calls sometimes end with voluntary compliance instead of arrests.
Brown notes that anti-camping laws don't solve the larger problem of homelessness. People usually move when police tell them to, she said, "but that doesn't mean they have housing."
T. Swan, who has lived on the streets of Spokane for years and asked to go by his first initial, says he usually camps in wooded areas on the South Hill.
Police will sometimes tell him to move along, but Swan says it isn't a huge issue and that it's best to comply and avoid getting a ticket.
"They say, 'Listen you can't be here, you need to go.' And my answer is, 'Yes sir,'" Swan says. "I don't want to make their job harder... Once they get to know who you are they'll usually cut you some slack."
Swan doesn't think the Prop 1 camping ban will be effective.
"All it will do is push them to the outer limits once the weather gets better," Swan says. "But then what happens? Somebody doesn't put out a campfire. It's a double-edged sword."
This summer, an unattended campfire at an encampment caused a 15-acre fire off Thorpe Road in Spokane's Latah Valley.
Still, Swan says he understands the reasoning behind Proposition 1. It's important to keep drug paraphernalia away from kids, he says, but at the same time, what about the soccer moms and dads who also use narcotics?
"They aren't looking at those people," Swan says. "They're looking at the people who are most vulnerable."
'KIDS DON'T NEED TO BE SEEING THAT'
On Sunday, Mykaliah Sanders was sheltering under the Madison Street railroad viaduct with a shopping cart full of belongings and a dog named Rita. Icicles hung overhead. Outside the tunnel, it seemed to be raining and snowing at the same time.
Signs outside the viaduct warn that camping within 50 feet of it is an arrestable offense. The city put them there after updating its laws in 2022, but it hasn't stopped people.
Police typically roll through the tunnel in their cars and tell people to move along about once or twice a day, Sanders says. Sometimes they'll stop people who have warrants, but Sanders, 24, says they don't normally cite people for camping if they move voluntarily.
When it happens, Sanders says she'll usually pack up her stuff and move to a tunnel one block over.
"They're pretty lenient after nightfall," Sanders says.
Advocates often criticize encampment sweeps because they can be disruptive and traumatic for people experiencing homelessness. Sanders says there have been times she's returned to her campsite only to find that all of her belongings were swept while she was gone.
"It sucks," Sanders says.
Despite those frustrations, Sanders, who says she's been homeless for about 14 years, says she supports Prop 1. She's seen needles near playgrounds.
"I hate that," Sanders says. "Kids don't need to be seeing that."
Brown has said her goal is "flipping the system" so that a coordinated network of service providers can be the first ones to respond to encampments and help connect people with services.
STATE OF DOWNTOWN
Emilie Cameron, the CEO of the Downtown Spokane Partnership, says she's been hearing a lot of inquiries about the status of Prop 1.
Anecdotally, Cameron says downtown Spokane has increased reports of fires, large piles of garbage and other issues associated with encampments.
"We are seeing more calls for service," Cameron says. "More complaint-driven types of calls regarding mitigating the hazards around camping."
Bell, the Realtor, says crime and disorder downtown makes it difficult for his company to lease downtown buildings.
One particularly difficult property has been the site of a former Starbucks on the corner of Second Avenue and Division Street — an intersection that's long struggled with poverty and drugs. Citing crime, the Starbucks closed in October 2022, and the building has been vacant since. (An article about Starbucks closing was cited in the amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn the Grants Pass case.)
Despite the area's reputation, Bell says his real estate company was recently able to find a client willing to lease the old Starbucks space.
If the permit application is successful, the northwest corner of Second and Division — a hotbed for substance use issues that is also adjacent to an addiction treatment center — will soon be home to 420 Smoke & Vape, which has also applied for a license to sell beer and wine. ♦
