A new Clark County law will soon put greater restrictions on sleeping outside, a move that county officials said is driven by the dual crises of homelessness and fentanyl.
The new law mirrors many so-called “unlawful camping ordinances” elsewhere in the United States. It prohibits camping from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on any sidewalks, streets and other public spaces. Clark County’s law also forbids people from camping in their cars under the same circumstances.
Under the new law, an offender faces a misdemeanor criminal charge. That charge can be settled in Community Court, a therapeutic court similar to drug courts that allows people to get treatment and help in order to have charges dropped.
In this file photo, a person sleeps outside a tent at one of the most populated homeless camps near downtown Vancouver.
Troy Brynelson / OPB
County officials — who approved the new law unanimously — hope the approach will get more people help.
“We’re really hanging a lot of effort on the Community Court, for it to bring resources to those that need it,” said Councilor Gary Medvigy.
The new law goes into effect Nov. 17.
The law’s passage is partly motivated by growing concern over homelessness and drug abuse. An annual one-night count of people experiencing homelessness counted 1,300 people in January, up 9% from the 1,197 counted in 2022.
But the proliferation of fentanyl is also a driving factor, Medvigy said. Washington state recently made most drug possession charges misdemeanors, the former judge added, which in his view took away a tool to thwart drug abuse.
“The group that’s living on the street is a very small portion of the homeless challenge. They are mainly driven by mental health, drug addiction and a rejection of help,” he said. “All of this is coming home to roost in a population that has no impulse control.”
Data available through the Washington Department of Health shows fatal drug overdoses are rising in Clark County and the state as a whole, as well as deaths specifically linked to fentanyl. Those statistics do not take into account a person’s housing situation.
The law isn’t blazing any new legal trails and in fact closely follows an existing one in the county’s largest city, Vancouver. It’s only in effect in during certain hours of the day and in specific geographic locations.
That narrowly tailored language is designed to conform with legal precedents. Notably, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2018 that communities can’t entirely ban camping if there isn’t enough shelter beds.
County officials said that while many places have similar laws already, Clark County hasn’t been able to muster its own for years.
When asked how today’s conditions are different, Councilor Glen Yung attributed it to a mix of political will and money. Multiple county departments had to work on the ordinance, he said, and it required buy-in from the county’s elected prosecutor and sheriff.
Yung echoed his colleague’s belief that the law would ultimately steer people to help, though he acknowledged there is still a lack of affordable housing, shelter beds, treatment options and social service providers.
“People are dying out there. It’s unconscionable to continue to let that happen,” Yung said. “This is one step to prevent people from living outside that way.”
Both councilors called it coincidental that their new law passed the same week that the city of Vancouver declared a homelessness emergency.
On Monday night, city officials voted to empower city administrators to tap into emergency cash reserves and waive some public contracting rules that can act as red tape that can delay public initiatives.
The change in authority will help the city staff make changes to its own initiatives to alleviate homelessness. City Manager Eric Holmes said in an interview Wednesday the city has plans to build a 150-bed shelter and change its own unlawful camping laws.
“As we get more resources in place ... we want to explore a model that says ‘Here are the narrowly defined places where you can camp — and it’s prohibited everywhere else,’” Holmes said.
He added that this approach also aims to improve how people find services, like housing programs or substance abuse treatment.
Like Medvigy, city officials echoed that their new approach is driven in part by concerns over overdose deaths. The new 150-bed shelter would be the traditional dorm-style with numerous beds in one location. Vancouver has in recent years built two tiny home-style encampments that are designed to offer more privacy.
“It’s been no secret that I have not been a huge fan of large congregate shelters,” said Jamie Spinelli, who helps spearhead the city’s plans regarding homelessness.
But Spinelli said she and her team are seeing a rise in drug use. She said the new shelter, which would also have service providers on-site, will allow people to get shelter while staff could monitor for signs of drug abuse.
“Isolating people with this kind of addiction is often a death sentence,” Spinelli. “Even in housing, they’re dying behind close doors because that’s what happens with this drug. And it has not happened in shelter, because people need that kind of support.”