Democratic politicians in Washington state recently proposed a measure that would ban cities from using “hostile structures” to deter homeless people from camping in public spaces. KIRO-TV It was reported on Friday.
Senate Bill 6231The bill, sponsored by four Democratic state senators, was introduced earlier this month and would ban “the use of hostile architectural elements on publicly accessible buildings or property.” If passed, the bill would prohibit cities from installing or constructing any design elements intended to “restrict the use of public spaces by persons experiencing homelessness,” the bill states.
The proposed bill defines a “hostile structure” as “any building or structure designed or intended to prevent persons experiencing homelessness from sitting or lying in a street-level building or structure. It is defined as “thing”. Design elements that impede skateboarding or rollerblading or restrict vehicle access to certain spaces are not prohibited. The bill also would not prevent Washington from installing elements on federal land, including highways.
If passed, this bill would come into effect in January 2025.
Early this month, olympic athlete Washington spent $700,000 in taxpayer funds to install “hundreds of large boulders at the site of the former encampment,” said Chris Avredan, communications director for the Washington Department of Transportation. Most of the boulders were located on Sleater-Kinney Road and Interstate 5 in Olympia, the outlet said.
Abourdan explained that in all instances where “more expensive encampment deterrents like rocks” were used, the area had experienced challenges over the years.
“Combined in Sleater-Kinney and Wheeler, more than 200 people lived on state right-of-way in the immediate vicinity of Interstate 5. Risk of re-encampment and its history of rapid growth and encampment. That, coupled with suitable topography to support rocks, ultimately drove the decision to encamp “use in these chosen locations,” she told The Olympian.
The bill’s main sponsor, state Democratic Sen. Liz Labret, recently said she has “mixed feelings” about using rocks to deter homeless encampments.
“It seems inherently unsafe for people to locate themselves in such close proximity to people driving 80 miles per hour,” Labrette said. Axios. “But is putting a nearly million dollar rock there the solution?”
He noted that changes to the bill may be necessary after architects expressed concern that the bill did not specifically define what types of designed structures would be prohibited.
Supporters of the proposed measure argued that the state should direct funds to address the causes of the homelessness crisis.
Michelle Thomas and the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance said“Spending public money on hostile buildings shows that the government is not serious about tackling the root causes of homelessness, whether people are living in housing or not.”
“Those rocks were obviously meant to prevent people from lying down,” Thomas continued. “It doesn’t prevent you from getting on the freeway. You can climb over the rocks and get on the freeway.”
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