Thanks to your advocacy, Seattle City Council has begun deliberations on Council Bill 118794, an Ordinance to Protect Public Health and Safety and Reduce Harms Experienced by Unsheltered Residents of our City.
NOW they need to hear from you to pass the bill!
We applaud Seattle Mayor Ed Murray for innovative responses to our city’s homelessness state of emergency, including sanctioned encampments, car camping and expanded funding. Still, we’ve seen the way the City’s treatment of unsanctioned encampments has not protected the rights of some of our most vulnerable neighbors. No one wants to live in a tent on public land, and certainly encampments can bring added challenges to neighborhoods across the city.
Solid Ground stands with advocates like the Seattle-King County Coalition on Homelessness (of which we are a member agency), Columbia Legal Services, and others to ask Seattle City Council to pass legislation to improve how the cleanups are run in order to protect public safety in neighborhoods, and treat people experiencing homelessness with the dignity we all expect.
TAKE ACTION!
Tell City Council: “I support health, safety and respect for all people living in our community! When thousands of people are forced to live in public spaces, addressing their needs as best they can, the City must not pursue policies that harm people and make it more difficult to help them. Chasing people from one place to another without adequate housing is wrong. Where can people go? Council Bill 118794 provides a framework, common sense and compassion that people living without shelter deserve.
- SUPPORT Council Bill 118794 and
- Use the budget process to bring people inside!
- Add your personal note!
The email addresses are below. Please remember to let council members know your mailing address!
- Lisa Herbold (Dist 1): 206.684.8803 | lisa.herbold@seattle.gov
- Bruce Harrell (Dist 2): 206.684.8804 | bruce.harrell@seattle.gov
- Kshama Sawant: (Dist 3) 206.684.8016 | kshama.sawant@seattle.gov
- Rob Johnson (Dist 4): 206.684.8808 | rob.johnson@seattle.gov
- Debora Juarez (Dist 5): 206.684.8805 | debora.juarez@seattle.gov
- Mike O’Brien (Dist 6): 206.684.8800 | mike.obrien@seattle.gov
- Sally Bagshaw (Dist 7): 206.684.8801 | sally.bagshaw@seattle.gov
- Tim Burgess (Citywide): 206.684.8806 | tim.burgess@seattle.gov
- Lorena González (Citywide): 206.684.8802 | lorena.gonzalez@seattle.gov
For more background information…
Read the proposed legislation here. Also, this open letter to Mayor Murray and the Seattle City Council lays out the case. A few highlights:
When thousands of people are forced to live in public spaces, addressing their needs as best they can, the City must not pursue policies that harm people and make it more difficult to help them. …
The ordinance will connect our most vulnerable community members with help they urgently need, including getting indoors and securing housing.
Engagement, outreach, effective communication, and responsiveness are at the heart of this ordinance. As such, the ordinance provides for a community response line and an implementation and advisory committee to make sure that the City’s response can adapt as needs and concerns change.
The ordinance’s approach will not tie the City’s hands. Instead, it will guide the City in addressing common situations: emergency situations … unsafe locations … unsuitable locations … and hazardous conditions.