Federal judge prevents sweep of Camp Hope through Christmas

A federal judge will not allow Spokane law enforcement to forcibly remove more than 400 homeless people from Camp Hope in East Central Spokane before Christmas.

U.S. District Judge Stanley A. Bastian on Monday granted a temporary restraining order against the city of Spokane and Spokane County, along with Police Chief Craig Meidl and outgoing Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich.

“The loss of plaintiff’s temporary shelter and the services provided at Camp Hope presents an immediate risk of irreparable injury,” Bastian wrote in the order signed Monday morning. “The public interest lies with keeping people in temporary shelter with services until the legal action is concluded.”

Jeffry Finer, one of the attorneys representing three Camp Hope residents and Jewels Helping Hands in the federal complaint, said in an interview that ongoing threats by the sheriff’s office to sweep the camp without a judicial order were hurting efforts to rehouse its residents.

“The sheriff’s threats were not just a distraction, they were causing terrible anxiety among the residents,” Finer said. “Now that we know there will not be a raid, we can focus all of our efforts on closing the camp safely, humanely and legally.”

Julie Garcia, founder of Jewels Helping Hands, which manages Camp Hope, said Monday that 377 people are living in the camp. That’s down from about 430 earlier this month and more than 600 in the summer. The camp formed more than a year ago on land along the north side of Interstate 90 west of Freya Street, which was cleared of homes more than a decade ago to make way for the future connection of the North Spokane Corridor to I-90.

Bastian will hold a hearing on Dec. 28 in his Yakima courtroom to further evaluate legal claims related to the camp. People working with residents of Camp Hope are seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the removal of the camp.

Later on Monday, the Spokane City Council approved a resolution condemning the sheriff’s office’s threats to sweep the camp and warning that the city would not come to the legal defense of city staff or elected leaders who participated in the future.

“The City Council has grave concerns that participation in the Sheriff’s requests could imperil City of Spokane Police officers, placing them in the dangerous position of displacing homeless persons without clear legal authority,” the resolution states.

That resolution passed 5-2 Monday.

Council members Jonathan Bingle and Michael Cathcart, who represents northeastern Spokane and the East Central neighborhood where Camp Hope is located, voted in opposition. They expressed frustration with the council’s focus on the impacts on the homeless but not on the residents living nearby.

“We basically sacrificed one neighborhood for the health of the city,” Cathcart said.

Bastian also ordered law enforcement to stop using infrared imaging or similar technology as surveillance tools on Camp Hope without a search warrant.

The sheriff’s office had used helicopters equipped with infrared imaging to surveil residents of Camp Hope for three days in mid-November. In a Nov. 22 press conference, Knezovich acknowledged the use of the technology without a warrant, but said he believed it was legal to do so.

The restraining order granted Monday does not prevent law enforcement from entering the camp to arrest a suspect if they have probable cause.

The order also does not appear to prevent the sheriff’s office from continuing to build up law enforcement presence at the camp.

More than a dozen law enforcement officers entered Camp Hope last week to distribute fliers that declared “This camp is to be closed.”

The move was the latest episode of the struggle between city and county elected leaders who want the camp scrubbed from a vacant lot owned by the Washington State Department of Transportation and the people living there directed to shelters, including the Trent Avenue shelter building the city is leasing.

In an interview last week, Mark Gregory, public information officer for the sheriff’s office, said that deputies would become a regular sight around the camp.

Knezovich, who has led the effort for law enforcement to clear the camp, did not return a call seeking comment Monday.