WASHOUGAL — The city of Washougal is proposing criminalizing camping on city property.
The proposed code changes, which the Washougal City Council will consider during its Monday meeting, would give Washougal police enforcement tools to address trespass and camping on public property.
“I just want to emphasize that this is merely a tool,” Washougal Police Chief Wendi Steinbronn said during the council’s Nov. 18 workshop. “This tool, the sharper end of it, if you will, is going to be reserved for specific circumstances when people are just not following what we ask them to do, which interferes with the rest of the (community’s) ability to enjoy the public property — for example, urinating and defecating in the grass behind City Hall, leaving needles around.”
The proposed changes come on the heels of a July U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Eighth Amendment’s cruel and unusual punishment clause does not prohibit governments from regulating camping on public property.
The city’s current municipal code restricts camping in public spaces to 9:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.
However, the area around City Hall has become a magnet for campers, Steinbronn said.
“Despite the fact that we have the public loo that’s only a block away from City Hall that’s open 24/7, we have problems with people using the little grassy area behind City Hall as their public toilet,” she said.
The proposed ordinance would make it unlawful to:
- Camp on city-owned or maintained property, including City Hall, public works buildings, parks, the police and fire stations, utility facilities and the Washougal Community Library, on any street or right of way or on any other publicly owned property, improved or unimproved;
- Store camping supplies (other than vehicles) on city-owned or maintained property;
- Sleep on sidewalks, streets, alleys, within doorways or in any pedestrian or vehicular entrance to public or private property abutting a public sidewalk.
“The officers aren’t interested in going out and arresting a bunch of people,” Steinbronn said. “We would have to be able to demonstrate that they are camping and not just hanging out, using the library or sitting on a bench or whatever.”
The amended code allows officers to first issue a written warning, followed by a referral to services, then a civil infraction citation and $75 fine.
“If all else fails and we can’t get this person to take advantage of the services that are available, they could be arrested for criminal trespassing,” Steinbronn said.
Steinbronn said the Washougal Police Department deals with about 10 unhoused people on a regular basis.
“Occasionally, we have to escalate our enforcement on those folks to get them to stop doing what they’re doing.”
Steinbronn noted that, due to the fact that Washougal does not have a year-round homeless shelter, it must rely on other resources, mostly the Council for the Homeless, a Vancouver nonprofit that provides services to community members experiencing homelessness.
Steinbronn added that police can give people bus passes or in emergencies, they may have hotel vouchers. But the vouchers are subject to the Council for the Homeless having funds available.
Camping bans
Council for the Homeless CEO Sesany Fennie-Jones said policies that criminalize camping in public spaces “hinder the ability for our unhoused neighbors to survive on a day-to-day basis.”
“The ramifications of these types of ordinances is that already marginalized people, including victims of domestic violence, people with disabilities and mental health issues, LGBTQ+ community and veterans, only serve to perpetuate systemic racism and chronic homelessness, rather than solving it,” she added. “It also actually increases the costs to taxpayers who must now fund the legal systems and restitution requirements imposed under these laws.”
