Why has the executive promised to veto bill allowing temporary shelters in Pierce County?
Shortly after the Pierce County Council passed an ordinance intended to make it easier to establish temporary shelters such as tiny home villages in unincorporated parts of the county, Executive Bruce Dammeier announced he would veto the legislation.
“This ordinance would permit large tent encampments to be legally established throughout Pierce County with little to no public notice. I cannot support this,” Dammeier wrote in a statement regarding his veto decision.
Council member Ryan Mello (District 4, Democrat) has been spearheading for months an effort by Democrats on the council to be able to establish temporary shelters for the unhoused, but the issue seems to have divided the council along party lines from the beginning.
With the realization that Tacoma disproportionately hosts the majority of shelter and services for the unhoused, the council has been pushing to establish shelter in other parts of the county.
The council previously allocated $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act federal dollars to establish a stability site for the homeless somewhere outside the Tacoma city limits. The federal dollars need to be allocated before they expire at the end of 2024.
Early in the process to find a place for the stability site, county staff reported barriers created by county code which prohibits emergency shelters from existing longer than 90 days.
In the beginning of July, Mello and other Democrats on the council brought forward an emergency ordinance which sought to address the zoning obstacles preventing the stability site and other shelter projects from being opened. The emergency ordinance, which circumvented the typical committee process and required five of seven council votes, failed along party lines on July 9 after several hours of public hearing.
Republicans object to emergency ordinance
Councilmember Dave Morell (District 1, Republican), who voted “no” on the emergency ordinance, said in a statement the ordinance was circumventing processes that are intended to protect the community.
“I don’t see the emergency. Rushing to change regulations to allow temporary homeless housing villages like tents or pallet shelters is short-sighted,” Morell said in a statement July 16. “Probably the most concerning is that it limits the community’s ability to influence what happens when one of these villages is planned in their neighborhood.”
During the July 9 meeting, Morell also pointed out the ordinance was drafted without input or collaboration from the Human Services Department. During the meeting, a representative from the county’s Planning and Public Works Department told the council it also was not contacted during the drafting of the ordinance. Morell suggested that not asking county staff for input could be an “overreach” by the council.
When asked why he objected to the ordinance, council member Paul Herrera (District 2, Republican) told The News Tribune he had serious concerns about the lack of process.
“With only one week for the public to understand that the council was considering allowing 100 person encampments all over the county,” Herrera wrote in an email to The News Tribune. “I’ve seen first hand the failures and challenges of low-barrier tent cities, what drugs and alcohol can do to compound behavior health issues and drive up crime, and I know we can do better.”
In an interview with The News Tribune on July 17, Dammeier said he thinks the county already has enough temporary housing and needs more permanent, supportive housing instead.
The new ordinance
Following the failure of the emergency ordinance, Mello, Robyn Denson (District 7, Democrat) and Jani Hitchen (District 6, Democrat) brought forward a similar ordinance that would go through the typical committee process.
“This is a well thought through path forward while we wait for permanent housing, which we know takes years to do,” Mello said before final consideration of the ordinance on Aug. 20.
The bill passed on a four-to-three vote, again on party lines. Republican council members did not suggest any amendments to the ordinance to make it more palatable for their vote.
Just hours later, Dammeier announced he would be vetoing the legislation.
“Fundamentally, the Council’s effort to declare homelessness an emergency, force through an ill-advised stability site, and establish a new homelessness bureaucracy is misguided,” Dammeier wrote in his statement. “All of these tactics have been tried locally and regionally none of them have worked.”
He wrote he believes the ordinance “circumvents” community involvement and allows tent encampments of up to 60 people to move into residential neighborhoods with “zero notice.”
“This is unacceptable,” he stated.
Dammeier pointed to Tacoma’s stability site at 1423 Puyallup Ave., which was originally called “temporary” before existing for more than seven years.
“This cautionary tale tells us that temporary encampments are rarely temporary,” he wrote. “In this ordinance, so called ‘temporary housing communities’ — including tent encampments, outdoor encampments, and other stability sites — could be indefinitely extended; in fact, experience tells us that they will.”
Mello accused Dammeier and his Republican colleagues of using “fear tactics” when they described the ordinance as allowing tent encampments to be established in residential areas with no community input.
“They are trying to conjure images that would scare people,” he told The News Tribune. “They know fully well they are mischaracterizing it.’
Mello said the ordinance would allow “well-managed” temporary housing communities to be established, as the ordinance includes a list of requirements for the shelters that include proper hygiene facilities, regulations on structures, and case management.
He also said the county’s Planning & Public Works department as well as the Human Services department will hold community meetings when planning the shelters and will have “leeway” to incorporate more public hearings and meetings when they deem it necessary.
Mello said the homelessness crisis is more complicated than Dammeier says it is, and will require both temporary emergency shelters like what would have been allowed by the ordinance in conjunction with supportive housing to mitigate the crisis.
After a veto from the executive, the ordinance will return to the council and require five of seven council members to approve.
Mello and Kelly Chambers are running for the office of Pierce County Executive.
This story was originally published August 22, 2024 at 5:45 AM.
