(The Center Square) – As Spokane decommissions its largest homeless shelter amid a state of emergency, a clarification to the city’s camping ban is slowly making its way to the city council.
Proposition 1 is Spokane’s voter-approved ordinance that prohibits camping within 1,000-feet of a park, daycare or school. However, the Spokane Police Department never fully enforced the ban due to concerns over the fallout from the federal ruling in Martin v. Boise that held cities can’t enforce anti-camping ordinances if they do not have enough shelter beds available for their homeless population.
However, in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson , a pending U.S. Supreme Court case, the nation’s highest court will look at whether local government ordinances with civil and criminal penalties for camping on public land constitute cruel and unusual punishment of homeless people.
Meanwhile, a draft amending Prop 1 is slowly gaining traction but could run into issues due to a lack of consensus among the City Council. If passed, it would shift the ordinance’s language, potentially prohibiting camping near Spokane’s comprehensive support services.