Are The Homeless A Protected Class? One Washington Rep Says Yes

Homelessness has been a growing issue around the U.S. and in Washington State.  According to data from World Population Review, over 25,000 people in The Evergreen State fall under the classification of homeless.

That number puts us as having the fourth largest homeless population in the nation behind California, New York, and Florida.  Seattle/King County, according to USA Facts had the third largest homeless population of any city at the end of last year, trailing only New York City and Los Angeles.

Before June of this year, many areas around Washington had little recourse when it came to limiting where the homeless population could camp, sleep, or create their own city.  That was a result of a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court that stated it was against the 8th Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment to prevent the homeless from sleeping on public property.

Get our free mobile app

So What Changed in June?

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a challenge brought by Grants Pass, OR (City of Grants Pass v Johnson) to the Ninth Circuit's ruling.  SCOTUS ruled 6-3 that cities do have the ability to legally limit the ability for the homeless to camp on public lands and that they can pass bans prohibiting said act.

Since that time a number of cities around the state have enacted ordinances to ban, or severely limit, camping on public lands.  All three of the Tri-Cities (Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco), Lakewood, Burien, Aberdeen, Everett, Vancouver, and Spokane Valley are just some that have have taken advantage of the ruling.  Spokane put the ban on their ballot in the form of Proposition 1 (November of 2023) which passed with almost 75% of the vote.

A Washington State Lawmaker Hopes To Reverse The Trend

State Rep. Mia Gregerson (D Sea-Tac, 33rd District) plans on introducing a bill in the coming session that would grant the homeless protected class status and making it a "civil right".  a draft of the bill was obtained by Seattle talk show host Jason Rantz who revealed it's contents on his program.

According to Rantz, the bill creates civil right status by protecting the homeless from "discrimination based on housing status".  That would make any existing ordinance banning them from sleeping on public property moot, even if shelter space is available.

The draft goes on to say that those experiencing homeless can't be impeded by

any law, policy, or practice regulating public space that results in disparate treatment or has a disparate impact on people who are homeless.

The bill would appear to override local zoning laws enabling those that live in cars or RVs the ability to live anywhere they are legally parked as well as on private property if permitted by the land owner.

So Will It Pass?

Given the current makeup of the State Legislature, with Democrats controlling both chambers and the Governor's Mansion, it has a really good chance of becoming law.  It would most certainly be challenged in court and what the outcome of that would be is anyone's guess.

The only thing that could prevent it from passing is a significant amount of push back from residents, local leaders, and local electeds.  If a lawmaker feels like a vote they take will hurt them, they may back down.  It happened last session with a bill in Senate that would raise the property tax rate to 3% from 1%.

This bill would only cost cities and counties more money (your tax dollars) in maintenance costs and it doesn;t even begin to address the mental health/addiction aspect of homelessness.  It simply lifts any and all restrictions on where the homeless can sleep/camp/live.  You can read the text of the draft by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the page.