Former Congressman and King County Sheriff Dave Reichert, who is now a Republican candidate for Washington state governor, endorsed an executive order issued by California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom at a press conference July 31 at FUSION Family Center in Federal Way.
The executive order was issued on July 25 in response to the Supreme Court’s recent Grants Pass v. Johnson decision, in which the court ruled that laws against sleeping on public property do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, and that local and state governments can enforce laws to keep people from camping outside.
Newsom’s order calls for state agencies to clear encampments from state land in California with at least 48 hours of notice to the people within them.
Reichert said he is not interested in criminalizing homelessness:
“This is about is helping people, not trying to arrest people, but helping people who need help. They can’t make decisions for themselves because they’re so addicted to some substance or they have a mental illness that incapacitates them to make the right decision for their own safety.”
In California, Los Angeles County has so far stated they will not be going along with the order and refuse to cite or jail homeless individuals for no other reason than that they do not have housing. In reporting from LA, their Inside Safe program has reduced homelessness by 2.2% in the past year and reduced those staying overnight on the street in tents or vehicles by 10.4%.
When asked how Reichert would respond if a city like Seattle within Washington state responded like Los Angeles, Reichert brought up state troopers.
Reichert then emphasized the importance of making sure that resources match actions, so if an encampment is cleared, there will be a coordinated response in providing resources for those individuals. One step to increase accountability and effective resource dispersal would be to create a state Director of Homelessness to oversee the statewide response.
“Each person on the street is a reminder of our shared responsibility to our fellow human beings,” Reichert said.
When asked what mechanism he planned to use to get people off the streets if not through arrest or Ricky’s Law, Reichert spoke to the importance of diversion programs then passed the mic to Kristine Moreland, director of The More We Love, a nonprofit that does direct outreach with those experiencing homelessness. She also spoke at the press conference. In response to that question, she affirmed the importance of diversion programs and added the importance of accountability and getting individual programs and efforts out of silos that render them ineffective.
Reichert spoke at FUSION specifically because he had toured the facility previously and wanted to draw more attention to the issue of homelessness, according to David Harrison, executive director of FUSION.
“If it works toward addressing the issue of homelessness in our community, well I’ll be first in line,” said Harrison, adding that FUSION welcomes other candidates for governor to tour the facility and hold press conferences there as well.
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