Spokane City Council to consider update on unauthorized camping ordinance

SPOKANE, Wash. — At Monday’s meeting, Spokane City Council will consider an update on the city’s unauthorized camping ordinance.

The proposal from City Council President Breean Beggs and Councilwoman Lori Kinnear includes the following:

• Prohibits camping at all times, regardless of the availability of shelter space, underneath or within 50 feet of any railroad viaduct located within the Spokane Police Department’s Downtown Precinct boundary and within three blocks of any congregate shelter;
• Prohibits camping at all times, regardless of the availability of shelter space, anywhere in the City where an officer can document that the activity poses a substantial danger to any person, an immediate threat, and/or an unreasonable risk of harm to public health or safety, or a disruption to vital government services; and
• Prohibits camping along the banks of the Spokane River and Latah Creek unless there is no available shelter space.

The unauthorized camping ordinance is different from the sit-and-lie ordinance. The sit-and-lie ordinance prohibits people from sitting or lying on a public sidewalk between 6 a.m. and midnight. It impacts the area from Maple to Division and I-90 to Spokane Falls Boulevard. It also gives specific prohibitions and exceptions for enforcement, including when shelter space is available.

RELATED: ‘Just as bad as Seattle’: City of Spokane will enforce sit-and-lie ordinance as people ask for change

The Trent Avenue shelter recently opened in the past week, where it was last reported that 36 people spent the night at the shelter on Tuesday.

The City of Spokane also gave WSDOT a deadline to clear out Camp Hope.

READ: City of Spokane gives WSDOT deadline to clear Camp Hope 

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