Drafter
Clerk 08/13/2014
Title
AN ORDINANCE relating to zoning; continuing a temporary use permit for homeless encampments; amending Ordinance 15170, Section 10, and K.C.C. 21A.45.050, Ordinance 15170, Section 16, and Ordinance 15170, Section 17, and adding a new section to K.C.C. chapter 21A.45.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. Homelessness is recognized as a significant problem in King County and elsewhere in the nation. Every day large numbers of individuals and families in our community go unsheltered. At this time our community simply does not have the capacity to meet the need.
B. King County finds it unacceptable that people are dying on the streets of our communities because there are insufficient safe alternative locations for habitation by homeless persons.
C. On a specific recent night, January 24, 2014, more than three thousand one hundred twenty-three individuals were living outside and another six thousand one hundred seventy-one individuals were in shelters or transitional housing in King County, according to the One Night Count conducted by the Seattle/King County Coalition for the Homeless.
D. Formed in 2005, the Committee to End Homelessness is dedicated to making homelessness rare, brief, and one time in King County. The Committee to End Homelessness - King County 2013 Annual Report states that thirty six thousand people have move from homelessness to permanent housing since 2005.
E. The Committee to End Homelessness adopted a final plan and recommendations in 2005 titled King County Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness. The plan found that homeless encampments are not ideal but found that there is a need for homeless encampments until more permanent housing is available across King County.
F. Homeless encampments serve as an interim survival mechanism while King County continues its important work as a member of the regional Committee to End Homelessness. In 2005, Ordina...
Click here for full text