The city of Spokane’s approach to homelessness may be shaped by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Friday ruling, but exactly how wasn’t immediately clear.
In a 6-3 ruling, the court said bans on public camping do not violate the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling, prompted by an ordinance in Grants Pass, Oregon, gave a victory to Western cities who asked the court for a stronger hand in dealing with chronic homelessness.
Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown was reserved in public comment Friday. In a statement, she said, “The City of Spokane has been and will continue to respond to unlawful camping and code violations through police enforcement, Spokane Fire’s behavioral health response, and our Homeless Outreach Team.”
She said her administration is working with non-profits and outreach organizations that aid unsheltered people. She did not specify what, if anything, will change as a result of the Supreme Court ruling.
The ruling appeared to clear the way for enforcing a broad camping ban called Proposition 1, approved by Spokane voters last fall. It bans public sleeping and camping in a little more than half of the land within city limits. Its enforcement was on hold while the Supreme Court considered the Grants Pass case.
Julie Garcia, director of the homeless advocacy group Jewels Helping Hands, said Friday that the city doesn’t have the infrastructure to offer the substantial help its homeless population needs. And that, in Garcia’s estimation, likely means citing and arresting homeless people.
“We totally agree that people experiencing homelessness, or anyone else, should not sleep next to schools and daycares, or any of the places outlined in Proposition 1,” Garcia told SPR News. “The problem with it is, when we let people know they can’t exist in a certain space, we don’t provide a space in which they can exist.”
What happens next, Garcia said, is in the hands of Brown and other city officials.
“On the ground, we don’t have a lot of ability to change these kinds of things. It all depends on how the people who have positions of power choose to enforce this new ruling,” she said.
Garcia said she hopes the city and homeless service providers can reach an evidence-based approach that follows the law, helps people without shelter, and is respectful to homeless people and the larger community.
Garcia and Low Income Housing Consortium head Ben Stuckart, meanwhile, are challenging Proposition 1 in state court. An oral hearing has been scheduled for September.
Brown will likely face pressure from Spokane business owners to take a more aggressive stance in the wake of the Grants Pass ruling.
In an email thread first reported by The Center Square, Pass Word Inc. president Rod Bacon suggested launching a recall petition against Brown if she “willfully refuses to enforce Prop 1 and the prohibition against public drug use.”
Selkirk Development founder and CEO Sheldon Jackson, who maintains the newsletter that sparked the email thread, wrote "We should expect an announcement immediately enforcing Prop 1, without the requirement to call 311. If we don’t hear this announcement immediately, then we can discuss consequences for inaction."
In subsequent conversations with The Center Square, Jackson and Bacon said they didn’t favor a recall petition right off the bat. They suggested Brown meet with constituents to discuss the city’s plans.
Housing advocates were disappointed by the ruling. The Washington Housing Alliance called it a “decision that will do nothing to solve homelessness” and would enable cities to prioritize punishment over housing.
Maurice Smith, a filmmaker who has documented homelessness in Spokane, said the ruling may lead to people simply being pushed out of downtown and into other parts of the city.
“Moving forward, there will be a lot of ink spilt over this return to this ineffective past policy of playing ‘homeless wack-a-mole,’” he wrote. “But for now we need to encourage our local leadership toward better solutions and not a return to the failed policies of the past.”
