Seattle Councilmember Dan Strauss announced a package of six pieces of legislation Friday meant to build the city’s first coordinated system for people living out of cars, vans, motorhomes and travel trailers. The plan, called the Vehicle Resident Assistance Program, arrives as roughly one in four of the region’s unsheltered residents is living in a vehicle rather than a shelter or a tent.
According to a Seattle City Council news release, the city currently offers very few services designed specifically to help vehicle residents get connected to support or move toward housing, and has no comprehensive strategy for doing so. The six bills, bundled as VRAP, are meant to change that by creating new resources for people living in all types of vehicles, from sedans to full-size RVs. Jen Manlief, whose statement was included in the announcement, said the legislation provides resources to help vehicle residents stay safe and legal while in their vehicles and move toward more stable situations.
The centerpiece of the package targets motorhomes and travel trailers parked on city streets, which would get both clearer rules and a pathway toward shelter and housing under the proposal. Under the plan, people who engage in services, follow existing laws and comply with basic rules could receive a vehicle resident assistant permit, allowing them to keep living in their motorhome or travel trailer on city streets while they wait for appropriate shelter or housing to open up. Motorhomes and travel trailers without a permit, by contrast, would be limited to just two hours of parking on any city street at a time.
How the Rules Change on Seattle Streets
That two-hour cap would represent a major shift from the enforcement tools the city currently relies on. Seattle Municipal Code already restricts vehicles from parking on the same block for more than 72 consecutive hours and bars vehicles wider than 80 inches from overnight parking outside industrial zones, according to the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. The VRAP package would also clarify Seattle’s junk vehicle law, which addresses vehicles abandoned or inappropriately stored on city streets and has not been updated in 25 years, per the council announcement…