Washington Democrat aims to make being 'homeless' a protected class

A Democratic state representative in Washington is advocating for a bill that would make homelessness a civil rights issue and make people living on the streets a protected class.

State Rep. Mia Gregerson is reportedly pushing legislation for the upcoming session in the Democratic-controlled State Legislature that would shield the homeless from "discrimination based on housing status."

According to a draft of the bill, "[M]any communities within Washington are enacting and enforcing laws that disproportionately impact homelessness or make living in public a crime. These laws are potentially unconstitutional, make it harder for people to exit homelessness, do not solve the underlying problem of homelessness, and waste precious public funds."

Gregerson is pushing the legislation following the US Supreme Court ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson that the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment doesn’t prevent a city from enforcing public camping ordinances.

Following the ruling, Burien, Washington, part of which is in Gregerson’s district, began enforcing a ban on camping in public places after the county had attempted to stop them from doing so. Other municipalities, including, Everett, Washington, began enacting similar policies such as its new Service Facility Buffer Zone, also known as a No Sit, No Lie Zone in its downtown near a local children's museum.

According to the bill, the homeless would be given "the right to survive in a nonobstructive manner" on public property. This includes parks, courtyards, parking lots, sidewalks, public transportation, “natural and wildlife areas,” including freeway medians and shoulders, and rooms or areas inside public buildings open to the public and during normal operating hours.

In 2021, a homeless prolific offender meth addict was arrested after attempting to rape a county employee inside a women's bathroom at the King County courthouse. At the time, there was a massive encampment that had a series of violent incidents next to the courthouse in a public park.

Under the legislation, people living in cars or RVs could remain wherever they are parked.

Additionally, the campers would be allowed to stay on public property when "that person has no reasonable alternative but to survive in public space and existing shelter facilities within the local government’s jurisdiction are inadequate in number or are functionally inaccessible."

As a result, the homeless can not be subject to “any law, policy, or practice regulating public space that results in disparate treatment or has a disparate impact on people who are homeless.”

On Tuesday night during a massive windstorm in Western Washington, a 50-year-old homeless woman was killed when a tree fell on her encampment.