Drafter
Clerk 09/07/2004
Title
A MOTION responding to the report of the citizens' advisory commission on homeless encampments and asking the executive to submit proposed policies for siting and permitting homeless encampments as well as recommendations regarding longer term steps for ending homelessness.
Body
WHEREAS, King County council Ordinance 14922 adopted on June 1, 2004, created the citizens' advisory commission on homeless encampments to make recommendations to the executive and council regarding the need for homeless encampments and policies and procedures for locating encampments, including analyses of the issues and options involved in using publicly and privately owned sites, and
WHEREAS, the eighteen voting and four advisory members of the citizens' advisory commission on homeless encampments were appointed by the executive and confirmed by the council on June 14, 2004, and
WHEREAS, the citizens' advisory commission on homeless encampments completed its work and transmitted its written report to the council on August 13, 2004, and
WHEREAS, the co-chairs of the citizens' advisory commission on homeless encampments presented and discussed the commission's recommendations to the council's committee-of-the-whole on September 7, 2004, and
WHEREAS, the commission found that homeless encampments are not a long term means of solving homelessness but rather one piece of evidence of the failure to adequately address and end the problem of homelessness, and
WHEREAS, the majority of the commission agreed that homeless encampments are currently a necessary expedient, given the continuing and growing lack of access to regular, stable housing, and
WHEREAS, the commission's recommendations include some policy and procedural guidelines for siting encampments, mitigating their impacts on surrounding areas and assuring basic health and safety, and
WHEREAS, the commission's policy and procedure recommendations may have operational implications for...

Click here for full text