On October 27th, just eight days before Election Day, Spokane City Council unanimously passed the “Safe and Accessible Spaces” ordinance, giving Spokane Police officers discretion to offer services or citations to suspects found camping on or obstructing public property.
During an interview, Spokane Chief of Police Kevin Hall discussed how the new ordinance changes officers’ standard procedures and, primarily, their discretion to issue disciplinary measures to violators.
“With the previous ordinance, we had zero treatment engagements,”said Hall. “Since this ordinance came into effect…It’s been 10 days, we’ve had 34 successful engagements. I think that’s because they realize the expectations have changed.”
While community members debate the policy’s effectiveness, Hall argues that enforcement must be measured against its human impact.
“Most importantly, and people miss this, is you’re not just looking for success, you’re also making sure you’re not creating harm.”
The ordinance gives police the ability to offer services before citations, but without adequate shelter capacity, service providers argue that the city risks cycling people through the same pattern of displacement.
Jason Ruffing, the director and de facto coordinator of the new Homeless Outreach Team, argues progress is being made towards both adequate shelter capacity and a more efficient process.
City council member Paul Dillon further explained the importance of the new Navigation Center.
“I think the part that is hard for a lot of folks is they often feel like they’re just being moved around or told where they can’t be without knowing where they can go,” said Dillon. “So what we need to do is keep building out the place where people can go for them to have a place to go. That is where I’m really focused.”
An individual who has played a large role in the fight against homelessness within Spokane is Julie Garcia from Jewels Helping Hands. She shared her thoughts on the ordinance.
“I think it’s their way of appeasing the community,” said Garcia. “So I personally don’t think tomorrow, nothing, nothing’s going to change. Sure, the police are going to go out and they’re going to move along. Doesn’t solve anything…That’s what they’ve been doing for years.”
When we mentioned this to Councilman Paul Dillon, he also shared his thoughts.
“I just don’t agree,” said Dillon. “I think we are seeing more people go to the navigation center and I think that is a result of the ordinance because you have people now using that as an option.”
The ordinance seems to have made an effect on downtown at the time of writing, November 6th, and we asked Jason Ruffing with the Homeless Outreach Team where some of these individuals formerly camped downtown have gone.
“We think of camping as a downtown and a riverbank issue, and it happens there a lot,” said Ruffing.. “The trend over the last few years is a pretty severe increase in our complaints that are related to people living in vehicles and RVs.”
Police Chief Hall provided some context towards the ordinance and its unanimous vote.
“Council came together and they recognized that what they were doing wasn’t working and they needed to try something new,”said Hall.. “It takes intellectual humility to be able to do that and say ‘lets take a step back and try something differently’ .”
Councilman Paul Dillon similarly offered his thoughts.
“So this ordinance was unique in that every single council member had some input and everyone got something that they wanted and I think everyone got something that they didn’t want,” said Dillon. “That’s ultimately how democracy is supposed to work.”