On March 4, the Burien City Council voted 5 to 2 to expand its prohibition on camping in public spaces, which was passed in October 2023, to cover most of the city. The ban previously prohibited camping on public lands between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. but did not apply if there was insufficient available shelter. Since March 4, the ban now encompasses all hours and allows the Burien city manager to designate large swathes of the city as “prohibited.”
The ban has been met with fierce criticism from homeless advocates, who say that the law is blatantly discriminatory toward unhoused people. Alison Eisinger, the executive director of the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness, called the law a “version of banishment” against homeless people.
“We call it that because it was clearly designed to banish people from their city,” Eisinger said. “It’s really hard to imagine how public officials could say with a straight face, as they did in that meeting, it was not that different from the original version that was adopted in the year.”
Eisinger and her organization, which the Real Change advocacy team is a part of, are assisting three unhoused Burien residents who sued the city in January. Their lawsuit argues the earlier version of the camping ban violates the Washington state constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments.
“This version that was passed on March 4 puts huge effort into drawing arbitrary and changeable lines where people cannot rest and does zero to help people know where they can rest,” Eisigner said. “Rest is a basic human function. So this is a pretty extreme law that essentially does make it impossible to know whether or not you’re committing a crime in the city of Burien.”
The camping ban establishes a new misdemeanor offense known as “unlawful public camping” that could be used to prosecute homeless people in the city. So far, no one has been charged under the original or revised ban.
Burien’s camping ban has garnered pushback not just from advocates but also from the city’s own police force — the King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO). On March 14, Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall filed for a preliminary injunction in the federal court, asking Judge Richard Jones to block the revised ban from coming into effect.
At a March 11 press conference, Cole-Tindall explained her reasoning for why she was suing Burien. She said that the new ordinance was not legally enforceable and could put her deputies at risk of violating the U.S. constitution.
“They did not consult with us prior to passing this ordinance,” Cole-Tindall said. “We have an obligation to avoid engaging in conduct that has been addressed in federal litigation and found to be unconstitutional.”
Erin Overbey, KCSO’s senior legal advisor, said the Burien ordinance violates two 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decisions: Martin v. Boise and Johnson v. Grants Pass.
“We have concerns about whether this particular ordinance criminalizes things that people can’t help — in this case that would be the fact that they’re without housing,” Overbey said.
Burien subcontracts the Sheriff’s office to provide police services in the city. Cole-Tindall said she was blindsided by the lack of communication from the Burien City Council prior to the March 4 vote.
“In an ideal situation, there is collaboration,” Cole-Tindall said. “I will say with the city of Burien, we have not found that level of collaboration and so at times things are more difficult.”
KSCO’s Office of Law Enforcement Oversight Director Tamer Abouzeid did not use such diplomatic terms, castigating Burien City Manager Adolfo Bailon for his handling of homelessness in the city in a March 13 press release.
“Since his hiring in late 2022, the Burien city manager has seemingly been carrying out a vendetta against unsheltered persons in Burien,” Abouzeid said. “The extremes to which the city has gone, and the city’s continued refusal to utilize support offered by King County to help with issues of homelessness, belie any pretense that these actions are taken to improve public safety in Burien.”
However, Burien Mayor Kevin Schilling, who is one of the five council members who voted to expand the camping ban, said the city did reach out to KCSO prior to the meeting.
Schilling added that the law was not intended to lock anyone up but instead to help them get into shelter and substance use disorder treatment.
“We supported that just because of a great example being what happened this morning [March 14]; we had a drug overdose in the downtown core,” Schilling said. “That’s directly related to the fact that folks haven’t gotten services they need and we’re having a situation where the county Sheriff is not enforcing not only the tent ordinance, but also not enforcing drug laws in the middle of the city. So we’ve had a situation where now that’s led to an overdose death. We’ve had months where our county outreach team with REACH hasn’t been present, hasn’t been providing services and hasn’t been connecting people to what they need.”
On March 18, homelessness advocates held a vigil outside of Burien City Hall in response to the death of Randall, the unhoused resident who passed away on March 14. Eisinger strenuously denied Schilling’s claim that the camping ban could help people suffering from drug addiction find treatment.
“Show me where in that law there is anything to assist people to get into treatment,” Eisinger said. “Please show me the language. That assertion is false.”
The legal battle between Burien and KCSO is only the most recent episode in a year-long controversy over the city’s harsh approach toward its unhoused residents. Many people have been swept multiple times and faced limited options for shelter or transitional housing.
Schilling accused King County of making the ordinance a political issue and not doing enough to address the homelessness crisis.
“This is a direct situation where the King County Sheriff and the King County Executive, who now directs the Sheriff, is prioritizing politics over public safety and needs to be focused on treatment over tents,” he said. “I think that right now we have a situation where there’s do-nothing government at the county level, where they’re OK with perpetuating tent encampments and not doing enough to provide people with occupational support, rental assistance, drug assistance, mental health assistance and that’s what larger governments need to be doing to step up to fix this problem.”
However, advocates have accused Burien of failing to act when King County offered $1 million to set up a tiny house shelter. The city council narrowly voted to accept the offer in late November on the day before it would have been required to return the money.
The city has also canceled its contract with REACH on March 7, a street outreach program that provides aid to unsheltered people and connects them with resources. These policy decisions have contributed to creating a hostile environment for many homeless Burienites.
Stephanie, an unhoused Burien resident, said she had witnessed escalating hatred from her housed neighbors. About two weeks ago, a resident of the condominium building across from Burien City Hall threw a hex wrench at her friend’s tent from the second floor balcony. The friend was hit but not seriously injured.
“Why? Nobody’s bothering you,” Stephanie said. “Why don’t they like us homeless people? What have we done?”
Ultimately, much of the political conflict boils down to the question of why people are homeless. Schilling, along with the rest of the Burien City Council majority, said drug use and people’s personal failings play a big role in why they are homeless.
“I don’t think it’s only a wealth problem,” Schilling said. “It is a drug problem and a mental health problem … I’m a [Yes In My Backyard person]; I want to be building housing everywhere. I want to be building housing of all kinds in as many places as we possibly can. That’s an element of it, too. But certainly, it’s a drug and mental health crisis, and we need to get people the services they need there. It’s not just a systemic economic issue.”
Eisinger said this is flat out wrong and that homelessness is a structural problem caused by wealth inequality and a lack of housing.
“Well, Kevin Schilling is entitled to his opinion, but the facts are clear,” she said. “Housing costs — and the lack of available, affordable housing for people with lowest incomes — has been and continues to be the primary driver of homelessness in this country.”
Guy Oron is the staff reporter for Real Change. He handles coverage of our weekly news stories. Find them on Twitter, @GuyOron.
Read more of the March 20-26, 2024 issue.