SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane City Council will consider a resolution Monday night to prevent city and county law enforcement from removing people experiencing homelessness from the homeless camp near I-90, commonly referred to as Camp Hope.
This action comes less than 24 hours after a federal judge granted the camp an emergency restraining order to protect the camp from being unlawfully cleared.
City council's new resolution supports a plan approved by Mayor Nadine Woodward and City Council President Breann Beggs on July 20. That plan aims to rehouse the residents of the camp and prevent the city "from leading or supporting unauthorized actions to remove unhoused individuals from Camp Hope."
“This resolution is in response to the recent actions of law enforcement at Camp Hope,” Council Member Lori Kinnear said in a statement. “Uniformed officers disrupted ongoing work by local providers to get people out of Camp Hope and into appropriate housing options. These disruptions continue to delay meaningful efforts to find better outcomes for the people living in the camp.”
The resolution states the following related to potential actions taken by City of Spokane employees:
- The City of Spokane strongly supports the July 20th Plan to rehouse Camp Hope residents that was signed by Mayor Woodward and Council President Beggs and that all parties should join together to accomplish this plan.
- The City of Spokane strongly condemns any action by, or directive to, City of Spokane employees that would force them to take action against a set of vulnerable individuals without judicial authorization and thereby place them in legal and/or physical jeopardy.
“We all agree that the people living in Camp Hope should be rehoused in appropriate long-term housing as soon as possible so that they, along with the neighborhood, can return to normal,” Beggs said in a statement. “The City of Spokane has endorsed dozens of initiatives to house people and decommission Camp Hope, and we need a recommitment to collaboration from all parties to finish the job.”
City council members will consider this new resolution during Monday night's meeting.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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