Most of the hang-up was over the requirement for up to seven days’ notice before officers could break up encampments, which the council reduced to three days before delaying a final vote until June 30.

However, Councilmember Paul Dillon proposed another amendment last week that eliminated the notice period and clarified the definition of obstruction. He penned in “any portion of” public property to offer additional means of enforcement, regardless of how much access is blocked.

The majority saw it as a compromise – and potentially the only way to pass the camping ban – after residents filed an ethics complaint in response to the flip-flop on June 16. The conservative minority disagreed, voting against the ordinance in favor of replicating the voter-approved law. 

“Expecting voluntary compliance is not only unrealistic, it’s a failure to acknowledge the severity of their condition,” Kaitlin Malmquist, a real estate coordinator for GVD Commercial Properties, testified. “To stand by and hope they’ll choose differently is not compassion. It’s abandonment.”

Spokane’s new camping ban replaces Proposition 1, a citizen initiative that nearly 75% of voters passed in 2023 to ban camping within 1,000-feet of a school, park or daycare. The Washington Supreme Court recently struck down that law but allowed the council to restore it upon a vote.

Councilmembers Jonathan Bingle and Michael Cathcart, representing the conservative minority and downtown, proposed replicating Prop 1, but the progressive majority rejected the idea – twice.

The Brown administration favored a more holistic approach that prioritizes connecting people to treatment and housing services rather than issuing citations. The multipronged strategy aligns with the mayor’s scattered-site shelter model, which strays from the idea that one-size-fits-all.

The new ban includes exemptions for expressing constitutional rights, obstructing access when disabled, requesting emergency aid, and complying with an officer’s directives to leave or accept services. It also adds provisions to expedite the removal of encampments located within 1,000-feet of a school, park or daycare, sites that pose a threat to public safety or obstruct “any portion of public property” unless authorized by an official state or local emergency declaration.

“I tell him all the time, correct your behavior,” said Sunshine Wiggins, a local homeless woman who watches over her late friend’s adult child. “If we don’t have ordinances like this, I cannot push him towards doing the right things. I don’t want him camping on a sidewalk for three days.”

“I’d rather see him in a shelter and doing his things that he needs to do to better his life,” she continued. “Both of us are homeless right now, and I think us, as homeless, deserve a place to go. I mean, if you’re going to push us off a sidewalk, then where are you going to push us to?”

Despite being homeless, Wiggins expressed support for the camping ban but also the need for more options. The camping ban leaves thousands of people without a place to sleep, as the city lacks enough available shelter beds to accommodate the degree of homelessness in Spokane.

Others also raised concerns about the need for designated areas where people are allowed to sleep under the ordinance. A place where service providers and case managers can find people without having to scour the city to administer daily medications for conditions like schizophrenia.

Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall told The Center Square that he anticipates the amount of citations issued for unlawful camping may fall as officers first shift toward the new approach, before rising again. 

“My initial inclination is that number [of citations] will remain relatively stable or may even dip a bit as we develop policy to support the enforcement of the ordinance,” Hall told The Center Square. “Once that occurs, I would expect to see greater engagement, to include enforcement, as the officers become comfortable with the parameters of the ordinance.” 

The progressive majority described the ordinance as a step in the right direction but noted that it’s not a perfect solution. The council must continue engaging the community as it launches this new approach if it hopes to build trust, especially as businesses call for the reinstatement of Prop 1.

“I ordered a hamburger and some french fries,” Bingle said. “This is a hot dog and hash browns.” 

Last summer, an email chain involving residents, business owners, and real estate professionals suggested it was time for a recall election to remove the council majority and mayor from office.

The group regularly advocates for increased enforcement, criticizing the progressive majority and Brown for their handling of the homelessness crisis. After Monday’s vote, the email chain raised the recall question again, with one person adding that “enough is enough” – “it’s time.”

OVER 50% OF SPOKANE HOMELESS POPULATION MOVED THERE AFTER LOSING HOUSING: REPORT

Dillon and others on the council are included in the thread but usually don’t respond to avoid conflicts with state law. Dillon removed some of his peers from an email he sent to the chain on Tuesday, claiming the recall conversation had come up the night before, only to troll the group.

“The recall discussion came up last night,” he wrote in the email before linking Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up, an infamous internet prank. “You can see a clip of my response HERE.”