If a lawsuit in opposition to town of Burien wasn’t sufficient to present its leaders pause in its quest to maneuver the unsheltered out of town, perhaps a directive by the King County sheriff to her deputies to not implement town’s newest ordinance on “tenting’’ is sufficient to have the Metropolis Council rethink its choice.
The connection between town and the Sheriff’s Workplace took one other hit Friday, when Burien accused the Sheriff’s Workplace of violating its contract with town, and Sheriff Patricia Cole-Tindall and King County requested Monday {that a} federal decide decide if the brand new ordinance is constitutional.
By now it needs to be fairly clear to policymakers that homelessness is a severe regional drawback, not restricted by ZIP code.
Disappointingly, a majority on Burien’s Metropolis Council rushed so as to add much more restrictions to the place people who find themselves unhoused can sleep in a single day whereas a lawsuit is pending in opposition to town over an ordinance on that matter.
Along with the lawsuit in King County Superior Court docket, the ninth U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals dominated in 2018 in Martin v. Boise that homeless individuals can’t be punished for sleeping outdoors on public property if there aren’t any ample options to supply them. Burien doesn’t have a shelter for single grownup males or younger adults.
Nonetheless, the Burien Metropolis Council voted 5-2 final week to ban sleeping in a single day inside 500 toes of Metropolis Corridor, faculties, parks and libraries, and on sidewalks — locations the place these with out shelter have been sleeping for months.
Not solely does the new ordinance muddy town’s authorized protection within the lawsuit by three unsheltered individuals and an advocacy group, it was accepted with no warning to the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, and little warning to the King County Sheriff’s Workplace, which is contracted to implement town’s legal guidelines.
On Friday,Cole-Tindall did the best factor by directing her deputies to not implement an ordinance that has “severe constitutional points.” The sheriff wrote in an electronic mail to Burien officers that her “workplace is not going to implement on the general public tenting portion of Burien Municipal Code (BMC 9.85.150), till the constitutionality of the ordinance is resolved.”
King County and Cole-Tindall had been proper to request an opinion from a better courtroom. Nonetheless, that query received’t be answered in a single day.
Town has been grappling with individuals sleeping in a single day on public property for months. The newest order tells individuals the place they can’t sleep in a single day however doesn’t give a lot steering to the place they can sleep.
“I’ve been against the tenting ordinance from the start,” mentioned Councilmember Sarah Moore, one of many two votes in opposition to the newest legislation. “I don’t have the reply to homelessness — to get everyone in housing and therapy. We don’t have the assets to do these issues however individuals should be someplace whereas we determine that out.”
Final yr town reluctantly accepted $1 million from King County to handle homelessness. The KCRHA is anticipated to make use of the cash to ascertain a tiny houses village in Burien. However that’s being delayed as zoning points are labored out.
Final week’s shortsighted ordinance vote ostensibly was an emergency effort to assist maintain residents, together with kids, secure. Those that stay open air are residents, too. Anti-camping legal guidelines received’t maintain them secure, nor are they a sound regional answer to homelessness.
