Encampment Hearing Crucial for TC3!

[SHARE Shelters]

Dear hosts, friends and supporters,

Greetings from both 100 men and women of Tent City 3 and the rest of
the SHARE/WHEEL Community that is standing with us in this time of
need!

In less than six months the 10 Year Old Consent Decree with the City
of Seattle Expires! The Mayor’s Office and City Council have begun
working on a City Wide Encampment Ordinance to replace the Consent
Decree when it expires.

There is a Hearing at the City Council this Wednesday September 28th
about this proposed Ordinance. We are urgently asking for your
attendance, testimony, help and support.

The Draft Encampment Ordinance now before the Council is a serious
step back from the Consent Agreement presently governing SHARE/WHEEL’s
Tent City 3. Under the new Ordinance the Third Signer of the Consent
Agreement – El Centro de la Raza – would be exposed to the risk of
thousands of dollars in Permit Fees and outrageous and onerous
requirements for hosting us.

The Draft Ordinance does nothing to solve the problem that forced
SHARE/WHEEL and El Centro to go to Court against the city a decade
ago! It does not streamline and clarify the role private property
owners can play in keeping Seattle’s unsheltered together and safe.
Burdens and risks for private property owners not present under the
SHARE/WHEEL, El Centro De La Raza and City of Seattle Consent
Agreement are introduced.

SHARE /WHEEL are therefore offering an amendment - authored by our
Attorney Ted Hunter - to the disappointingly narrow “Proposed
Encampment Ordinance. This amendment would regulate Seattle
Encampments on private property in a clear, fair, manner – similar to
how religious institutions are treated.

Why not help homeless people stay together and safe at the lowest cost
available to the City? Why not remove regulatory barriers and
uncertainty when possible?

The faith community has been wonderful both in hosting and supporting
Tent City 3 in the past decade. Realistically, we cannot expect our
religious friends to carry the burden alone. If they had been forced
to do this for the first decade of Tent City3, our home would have
been lost.

There are simply times when a religious institution is unavailable.
That is why El Centro de la Raza hosted us. It is why Pete Sikov
hosted us. And King Vin Inc. Why make the regulatory road harder for
them?

The King County Council specified in their Encampment Ordinance a way
for both private property owners and religious institutions to host a
tent city. Why can’t the Seattle City Council deal with both of them
in the same Ordinance 7 Years Later?

Even in how it treats religious institutions, the Proposed Encampment
Ordinance violates religious freedom. It illegally limits the rights
of churches established not only by the Constitution and Federal
Religious Persons and Institution Act, but also Washington State Bill
1956.

We are disappointed in how it devalues our decade long achievements
and is based on the assumption that the religious community should
single handedly host our camp.

We are urging our friends to show up and stand with us this coming
Wednesday at 2 PM in front of the City Council. Urge them to adopt
‘The Hunter Amendment!’

The members of the City Council Committee listening to testimony
Wednesday are Nick Licata, Sally Clark, Tom Rasmussen and Sally
Bagshaw. Their name is the Housing and Human Services Committee.

Thank you for your ongoing friendship and support. Call us today
with your questions and suggestions!