BURIEN, Wash. — On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling about a case out of Oregon, deciding that cities can enforce bans on homeless people camping in public spaces.
This court ruling is notable to leaders in Burien because their camping ban law is currently being challenged.
“I was waiting with anticipation every day,” said Burien Mayor Kevin Schilling. “I was getting up to wait and see if the Supreme Court was going to release their opinion.”
For nearly the past four months, the King County Sheriff's Office has been refusing to enforce the city's ordinance that bans camping in public areas at all times of the day and night – if people refuse services.
“The sheriff's lawsuit against us in federal court was asking the constitutional question of if we are violating individuals constitutional rights around cruel and unusual punishment,” said Mayor Schilling.
While the federal court case deciding if Burien’s law is constitutional has not been ruled on yet, Schilling believes Friday's Supreme Court decision proves the city's law is constitutional.
“I had no doubt that our ordinance was constitutional. I'm happy to see that it is constitutional because we can begin enforcing it now, once the sheriff and once the lawsuit that they started is either dismissed or has some sort of ruling in the federal court case it’s in,” said Schilling.
However, the King County Sheriff's Office disagrees and still believes Burien’s law is unconstitutional. The KCSO sent a statement saying, in part:
“Our deputies are sworn to uphold the constitution of the United States, and we remain steadfast in our position that Burien’s ordinance violates these rights."
The KCSO said a new ordinance needs to be created that includes prohibited camping locations and includes specific wording on the conduct prohibited in no-camping zones.
A similar sentiment was expressed in a statement from the Office of King County Executive Dow Constantine, who said, in part:
"Burien continues to criminalize vague activities, and only at certain locations around the city - locations that can change at the whim of the city manager."
But the mayor said that's not what the city's doing.
“It's just a civil citation, it's not criminal and nothing like that,” said Schilling. “It's just we've asked you, we've given you something, you've said no, but you can't continue to be here if you're saying no to a service.”
Now that today's case is decided, Schilling is waiting for his city's case to be decided, too.
“I hope that King County will follow whatever decision the judge makes or we're going to continue down this line of them not doing something that is constitutional, that we're paying them to do,” said Schilling.
The King County Regional Homelessness Authority did not comment directly on Burien’s situation, aside from acknowledging a lawsuit against the city over the ban, but did say this about the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling:
“As a member of the larger homelessness response system today’s ruling is devastating and we’re concerned about the impacts it will have on our unhoused neighbors. Criminalizing homelessness leads to further displacement and harm. This ruling doesn’t change the fact that housing is a basic human need. Housing solves homelessness and there are proven strategies to address the crisis.”