Sunday, May 27, 2018

Homelessness in Bellingham | RadioReport



Abstract submission to the Seattle Journal for Social Justice
Homelessness in Bellingham WA | Jennifer Christine Mansfield | May 23, 2018

Homelessness in Bellingham WA

Introduction

I began working with Homes NOW! Not Later… as a volunteer in December of 2017. The group decided to host a community event on City Hall lawn in Bellingham, WA for homelessness awareness after six months of stagnation attempting to gain a legal route to build a tiny-home community pilot project. The theme of the Sleep Out was “Stop the Sweeps”. Stop the Sweeps is a local volunteer campaign created to draw attention to the municipal infractions that penalize a person for ‘unlawfully’ pitching a tent for shelter. The goal was to shed light on the need for alternative affordable housing solutions for which Homes NOW is seeking to provide. 

Sleep Out for Homelessness Awareness

The Sleep Out event at City Hall started on December 1st and continued to December 18th. The original three-day event was authorized by city event permit to continue after testimonials of countless unhoused residents. The public voiced concerns that the local community did not have sustainable resources for the occupants on the lawn who by sleeping outdoors were making a last resort decision to reside in tents in public locations. Some reported that the shelter posed severe risk to their health and well-being. 

Tenters experiencing extenuating circumstances and chronic health issues stated the shelter was not conducive to their lives and living outdoors was less a risk than shelter habitation. Homes NOW reiterated to City Council as in previous public disclosures the impact to people’s lives who live without proper shelter, restroom access, storage facilities, and shower/laundering services. The public requested and proposed resolutions for shelter, 24/hour restroom access, proper waste disposal units, 24/hour safe storage, and free legal parking for those residing in their vehicles. These requests were denied.

The City Decision

While deliberating the needs of the community, the tenters continued to reside at the Sleep Out on City Hall lawn for the duration of two weeks’ time. City officials concluded that the limitations of the only existing city shelter were sufficient space to house the point-in-time population on the lawn, and that the lawn itself was in jeopardy. The mayor conveyed that people had a “choice” not to reside at the shelter and reiterated that the shelter was in fact the city’s only recourse for provisions at this time. The final decree was that RCW state law limited public events of the Sleep Out’s nature to continue on the City Hall lawn. The tent encampment would not be relocated to a new designated site and no declaration of emergency would be made to legalize camping publicly. 

It was specifically noted that the city faced impending lawsuit by threat of an outside authority (not revealed). The legal implications bordered on extortion to gain leverage to undermine the local democratic process citizens were pursuing. The citizens were seeking a route of responsiveness from the city to address a matter of urgent need. The members of the community challenged the ordinances protecting the city lawn for which RCW state law simultaneously conveys specific guidelines for addressing homelessness! The burden of prioritization was apparent and the competency of city officials to differentiate which is more important -- a lawn or a human life -- also became apparent. 

When deciding between the matter of caring for a lawn which can be regrown and the preservation of human life which cannot be regrown, certainly a conscientious determination would be made to preserve the lives facing critical hardships! The absence of shelter when residing in the unrelenting winter months of the Pacific NW can be lethal if not devastating to the health. The matter of protecting the lawn took precedence over the matter of protecting human lives. Two members of the community lost their lives shortly thereafter due to inclement weather and lack of proper housing and care. 

Homes NOW in 2018

Jim Peterson and Douglas Gustafson continue to provide immediate assistance to the local community in various capacities in which Homes NOW offers a beacon of support to the unhoused population in Bellingham. Beginning with their advocacy for social justice and reform during the Bernie campaigns, Jim and Doug initiated a nonprofit with the goal of ending homelessness by the year 2020. Homes NOW volunteers continue to seek a viable route to build alternative affordable housing solutions in Whatcom County such as tiny homes. 

Jim Peterson is well-known to all Homes NOW volunteers for his 17 years’ experience as a homeless person himself. Jim’s lifelong advocacy for challenging the status quo to a higher standard of social awareness is an asset to Bellingham for which many have dismissed with frustration and disapproval as Homes NOW is notorious for enlisting an unorthodox approach of simplicity over the traditional norm of bureaucracy. The barriers to this simplicity are zoning, land-use, and the interpretation of state and municipal laws which pose hindrances to building and operating a tiny home pilot-project and/or tent encampment community in Whatcom county. What is lacking is city and county compliance to prioritize the need for housing first solutions. The demand for housing exceeds the availability of affordable homes. This lack necessitates a building plan that is adaptable not constrictive, and the political will to endorse it.

Government Policy

Much of the discouragement locally is regarding ordinances that inhibit building tiny homes. The definition of a tiny house structure is often piggy-backed on the Detached Accessory Dwelling Unit (DADU). While possessing similar traits to a recreational vehicle (RV) and DADU, the tiny housing that is being introduced is neither; however, without utilizing these codes to build, the options to build do not exist. It seems rather logical and imperative that reevaluation of current zoning laws and land-use is needed for equitability of the population in seeking housing reforms and feasible solutions.

On January 22, Bellingham city leaders orchestrated a route for action establishing a fast-track ordinance under the premise of emergency to allow tent encampments; however, this ordinance is useless when no nonprofit organization possessing land offers charitability to host it. Herein lies the greatest of disappointments -- the community will to be proactive and the political will to modify counterproductive bureaucratic walls of complacency seems to be a tolerance for lagging indefinitely. Time is a luxury that those living on the street do not have. Living without shelter parallels that of a person treading water and trying desperately to make it to land. 

The bias and stigma that promotes itself in mainstream media is that people experiencing homelessness are lazy and should get a job. This judgment and noticeable disdain for members of our society who reside out-of-doors or in the shelters, on the street corners, or in less than acceptable conditions are counterproductive to solutions. 

There is a validity from our peers in society in which we gauge ourselves accordingly. Our dignity and self-esteem by default of our upbringing in a capitalist system defaults to defining ourselves by our net worth. This is a false identity that cripples many who fall from the ladder of success. When we abide by a false identity, we compromise our quality of life and what we feel we deserve. This is made most apparent by the personification of those living on the street being people less deserving of empathy rather than more deserving of it. We do not acknowledge a person’s actual situation, only our judgment of how they became incapacitated. This stems from a personal sense of failure and fear of failing.

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Living without shelter poses difficulty for any person. The challenge is one in which a person striving to survive is daily shuffled from one public space to another by complaint-driven policing of their every living breathing activity. Without logical legal protection condoning livable activities such as eating, sleeping, or relieving oneself, people face municipal citations and civil infractions for life-sustaining activities. Living is made unbearable and is often only applicable to the population of city dwellers who do not possess basic resources to maintain their lives. Legal derogatory marginalization is evident as it is equal to kicking someone when they are down.

Springing Forward

Since the Sleep Out event, the police department added three local dumpsters and portable toilets in areas where illegal tent encampments are frequently located. The city has coordinated what they have titled HOT teams (Homeless Outreach Team) to correspond with “vacate notices” for “clean-ups” which are enforced as municipal citations despite the declaration that these citations are not “sweeps”. Homes NOW continues to coordinate monthly Summits to provide the housed and unhoused community an opportunity to meet, eat, and learn more from each other. Seasonal survival gear and clothing is handed out to those in need by local Homes NOW volunteers during the Summits. Surveys and interviews of homelessness experiences are compiled for video and data research. Social media continues to provide a forum for connection.

Mobile Shower Truck

In frustration for the lack of advancement toward a path to build tiny homes, Homes NOW leaders are utilizing their active volunteer team to provide what is lacking in the lives of those living without shelter. The most recent activity of Homes NOW is the volunteer spurred construction of a mobile shower truck for which unhoused individuals will have a much-needed resource for maintaining hygiene, rightly described as Showers NOW! Not Later...



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