In a push to address King County’s worsening homelessness and addiction crisis, the Quality of Life Coalition, a new bipartisan citizens’ campaign, has officially filed the Compassionate Public Safety Act, a proposed ordinance that would ban unauthorized public camping and mandate direction to available shelter for unhoused individuals.
The initiative, filed just before the July 4th holiday, is modeled after similar efforts in cities like Burien and San Diego and seeks to enforce what the group calls “triage over tents.” Its goal is simple: restore safety and livability to the region’s public spaces while ensuring that people on the streets are given clear pathways into shelter and treatment.
“This is about triage, not tents. We have to direct people to shelter & to do that, we need a public camping ban.”…