News Release:
Thursday, August 1, 2024
For Immediate Release
News release: Aug. 1, 2024
Contact information: ACLU of Washington, [email protected]
SPOKANE – The ACLU of Washington (ACLU-WA) filed a lawsuit today in Spokane Superior Court alleging that several of the City of Spokane’s ordinances governing camping and lying in public spaces are unconstitutional and impose cruel punishment on people experiencing homelessness.
The lawsuit targets three Spokane municipal codes that, in effect, criminalize homelessness. The first ordinance makes camping and sleeping on public property a misdemeanor. The second makes sitting or lying between 6:00 a.m. and 12:00 a.m. on public property that is encompassed by a designated zone a misdemeanor. The third authorizes the city to remove, destroy, or sometimes store the property of individuals who have been cited for unlawful camping.
The lawsuit alleges that these Spokane laws functionally criminalize homelessness and impose cruel punishment in violation of Article 1, Section 14 of the Washington State Constitution. The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare them unconstitutional.
The suit was brought on behalf of currently and formerly unhoused Spokane residents and Jewels Helping Hands, a nonprofit organization providing direct outreach in the greater Spokane area.
Anti-camping and sit-and-lie laws functionally criminalize homelessness. When people have nowhere else to rest, camping and resting outside cannot be seen as voluntary. Arresting or fining people for sleeping in public spaces only worsens our ongoing mass incarceration crisis and diverts much-needed resources from addressing the root causes of homelessness.
The complaint argues that because homelessness is not a voluntary or willful act, criminalizing homelessness is cruel and therefore unconstitutional.
Like many cities in Washington, Spokane lacks adequate shelter beds and has a serious housing shortage – that shortfall will not be solved by putting more people in jail or issuing citations. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimates that Spokane is home to about 2,390 unhoused people, with 955 unsheltered individuals experiencing homelessness. The ACLU-WA has reason to believe the estimate reported by HUD undercounts the number of unsheltered people in Spokane. Homelessness also disproportionately harms Black and Indigenous people and people of color.
"We cannot arrest our way out of homelessness and poverty,” said La Rond Baker, legal director for the ACLU of Washington. “Fines and incarceration only further entrench homelessness and separate people from essential support systems. If our state’s constitutional prohibition on cruel punishment means anything, — it means that our poorest neighbors, those who lack a home, those who live and sleep outdoors — cannot be punished for being unhoused.”
Representing the plaintiffs are ACLU-WA staff attorney Brent Low, legal fellow Sagiv Galai, legal director La Rond Baker, and ACLU-WA smart justice policy program director Jazmyn Clark.
News release: Aug. 1, 2024
Contact information: ACLU of Washington, [email protected]
SPOKANE – The ACLU of Washington (ACLU-WA) filed a lawsuit today in Spokane Superior Court alleging that several of the City of Spokane’s ordinances governing camping and lying in public spaces are unconstitutional and impose cruel punishment on people experiencing homelessness.
The lawsuit targets three Spokane municipal codes that, in effect, criminalize homelessness. The first ordinance makes camping and sleeping on public property a misdemeanor. The second makes sitting or lying between 6:00 a.m. and 12:00 a.m. on public property that is encompassed by a designated zone a misdemeanor. The third authorizes the city to remove, destroy, or sometimes store the property of individuals who have been cited for unlawful camping.
The lawsuit alleges that these Spokane laws functionally criminalize homelessness and impose cruel punishment in violation of Article 1, Section 14 of the Washington State Constitution. The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare them unconstitutional.
The suit was brought on behalf of currently and formerly unhoused Spokane residents and Jewels Helping Hands, a nonprofit organization providing direct outreach in the greater Spokane area.
Anti-camping and sit-and-lie laws functionally criminalize homelessness. When people have nowhere else to rest, camping and resting outside cannot be seen as voluntary. Arresting or fining people for sleeping in public spaces only worsens our ongoing mass incarceration crisis and diverts much-needed resources from addressing the root causes of homelessness.
The complaint argues that because homelessness is not a voluntary or willful act, criminalizing homelessness is cruel and therefore unconstitutional.
Like many cities in Washington, Spokane lacks adequate shelter beds and has a serious housing shortage – that shortfall will not be solved by putting more people in jail or issuing citations. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimates that Spokane is home to about 2,390 unhoused people, with 955 unsheltered individuals experiencing homelessness. The ACLU-WA has reason to believe the estimate reported by HUD undercounts the number of unsheltered people in Spokane. Homelessness also disproportionately harms Black and Indigenous people and people of color.
"We cannot arrest our way out of homelessness and poverty,” said La Rond Baker, legal director for the ACLU of Washington. “Fines and incarceration only further entrench homelessness and separate people from essential support systems. If our state’s constitutional prohibition on cruel punishment means anything, — it means that our poorest neighbors, those who lack a home, those who live and sleep outdoors — cannot be punished for being unhoused.”
Representing the plaintiffs are ACLU-WA staff attorney Brent Low, legal fellow Sagiv Galai, legal director La Rond Baker, and ACLU-WA smart justice policy program director Jazmyn Clark.
###
Court Case:
Currie et al v. City of Spokane
