Citizen’s initiative seeks to outlaw homeless camps near Spokane schools, parks and child care facilities

A Spokane attorney wants it to be illegal for the homeless to camp within 1,000 feet of schools, parks, playgrounds and child care facilities – and he thinks voters will agree.

“If you’re given the option to think about the children, most people tend to be protective of children, either their own or children that are around them,” said Brian Hansen, a lawyer and former law enforcement officer. “If it’s framed in that fashion, then I think it would pass.”

Hansen filed the proposed initiative on April 14 and it went before the Spokane City Council April 24 for initial consideration.

Council members Jonathan Bingle and Michael Cathcart made a motion to immediately adopt the proposal as city law, rather than require it to go out for signatures and, if it received enough valid signatures, to the general election ballot. Their effort failed on a 5-2 vote.

That means Hansen will have to collect 2,624 signatures of city voters to get his proposal on a city ballot.

“This is where families are congregating, this is where kids are congregating, and it makes a ton of sense for the health and safety of the city to put this forward,” Bingle said.

Councilman Zack Zappone, Councilwoman Lori Kinnear and Council President Breean Beggs expressed concerns about adopting the measure before it could be reviewed by the hearing examiner or the city’s legal department. Zappone and Beggs specifically raised concerns about the extent of the city that would be covered by the camping ban and whether it might run afoul of legal precedent.

Spokane has more than 80 parks covering more than 4,000 acres, according to the city, and dozens of schools in the public school system. In an interview, Hansen said he was not certain how much of the city would be covered by his initiative.

Beggs said if the City Council was going to adopt the measure, a member should introduce it through normal means.

“If we were going to propose this, we should propose it straight up and have commentary from the public,” Beggs said.

Bingle argued that previous legal advice had touched on this issue, and that the public already weighed in on the issue when the council worked on other legislation related to homelessness.

Without action from the City Council, Hansen’s initiative went to the hearing examiner for legal review.

Hansen, a father of six, said that he was motivated to file the initiative after reading court filings in the city’s recent lawsuit to close the Camp Hope homeless encampment. Witnesses reported children had come across drug paraphernalia and sexually explicit acts from some of those staying at the camp, according to court documents.

“If we come to a policy choice between this group or another group … I think what we need to do is value children over access to property in which to camp,” Hansen said.

He argued that 1,000 feet would provide sufficient buffer room so that any criminal activity in or near an encampment would not impact people at parks, schools or child care facilities.

Hansen added that he had no ill will for the homeless.

“I’m not bragging or anything like that, but I give a lot of money to Catholic Charities and to other organizations that directly help the homeless,” he said. “And I do that because I feel like it’s both my duty as a member of this community, and my duty as a child of God.”

“ This is where families are congregating, this is where kids are congregating, and it makes a ton of sense for the health and safety of the city to put this forward.” Jonathan Bingle Spokane City council member