VANCOUVER, Wash. — The Vancouver City Council on Monday voted to approve an emergency declaration related to homelessness in the city, a proposal floated by City Manager Eric Holmes on Friday. The state of emergency will give Holmes authority to unilaterally issue executive orders on homelessness while it remains in effect.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to address homelessness in our city,” Holmes said in a statement. “While not all actions need the declaration, this mechanism will give us the agility we need to take action quickly as we continue to develop effective outreach-led, enforcement-backed solutions.”
According to city officials, efforts to address homelessness in Vancouver over the last several years have not been able to equal the growing complexity and scale of the issue. The emergency declaration is supposed to allow the city more flexibility in making quick decisions, "used only in the most critical of situations."
In the declaration itself, the city cites the influx of fentanyl as a major contributor of unsheltered homelessness, reducing the ability of outreach workers to engage with people on the streets. The city's homelessness response team, HART, reported seeing a rise in untreated mental and behavioral health issues, weapons and violence, environmental hazards and overdoses.
“I know the community is anxious for solutions,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Ty Stober. “Homelessness is a complex issue, and one that requires a thoughtful and comprehensive approach. This declaration will allow the city to continue to make progress with the additional flexibility we need.”
Holmes issued his first two emergency orders shortly after the declaration. The first gives him power over the city's purse strings as regards homelessness, while the second allows him to close up to 48 acres of public property to outdoor camps "as needed" for the city to address public health and sanitation needs. The second order also requires compliance with Vancouver's tent and vehicle camping rules.
Shawn Haswell moved his campsite from Portland to Vancouver for one reason, he said — to get away from the big city.
"Portland unfortunately has become known nationwide as the city people come to camp and get high," he said.
Now Haswell stays in a lot outside Vancouver City Hall where homeless people have been allowed to camp, at least until now. On Tuesday, city officials pinned a notice on their tents, giving them one week to move away or face arrest.
"I'm cleaning my stuff up, going to get some of my tents away," he said.
This is all part of an effort by the city to enact a more forceful response to homelessness.
"Everyone sat down and said, 'What are our next steps' — because it's not getting better, it's getting worse and it's getting worse rapidly," said Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle. "We put a lot of confidence in the expectation that this will be enforced. We don't do this lightly, and you don't see a lot of these types of declarations come through."
According to city officials, the emergency declaration won't just allow them to be more aggressive in clearing problem campsites, it will also allow them to expedite opening more shelters. It isn't just a "political stunt," McEnerny-Ogle said — it's something they expect to help make positive changes.
"I think it's been a crisis for a long time, and treating it like a crisis is going to make a big difference," said Tyler Chavers, a Vancouver police officer who works with HART. "It's cutting red tape to speed up the process for what our citizens are truly demanding — solve this problem don't just better manage it."
The city of Vancouver has been moving forward with the opening of Safe Stay communities — outdoor shelters that serve as a gateway to more permanent housing — with two operating and two more anticipated by the end of the year. After initial successes with the first two sites, the newest villages have taken longer to get off the ground. It also has a Safe Park Zone for people living in vehicles.
City officials hope that they can move the people camped outside city hall to the new Safe Stay village nearby. While it's still under construction, the site is expected to welcome people in by Thanksgiving.
"I just want to be stable again, have a safe place where I can leave my stuff, go out to work and return a normal life," said Haswell.