SEATTLE, WA – April 5, 2024 – The Elves for the Homeless and four unhoused individuals residing in Clarkston, Washington, filed a lawsuit today challenging the city of Clarkston’s Ordinance 1706 as unconstitutional and in violation of the American with Disabilities Act. Read the complaint.
Represented by the Northwest Justice Project (NJP), the lawsuit charges the City of Clarkston with violating the Washington Constitution by adopting an ordinance that criminalizes the status of being homeless, inflicts cruel and unusual punishment, deprives individuals of due process, and violating the American with Disabilities Act.
On February 6, 2024, Clarkston Mayor Monika Lawrence declared a state of emergency that purported to recognize the needs of its citizens experiencing homelessness and acknowledged the lack of housing available to meet those needs. Then the city council utilized its emergency powers to pass Ordinance 1706 that made it as difficult as possible for those citizens to live within city limits.
Ordinance 1706 prohibits camping outside the hours of 9:00 pm to 7:00 am, having items not “essential to living” and limits any one person or family’s total space to an 8×8′ plot. It designates a single small city park as the only public space to shelter and authorizes the city police to seize unattended property as abandoned. A violation of Ordinance 1706 can mean 90 days in jail, a $1,000 fine, and a six-month exclusion order.
“It’s inhumane, anyone who has to live with that restriction would understand that. It’s not intended to allow us to exist in this City, it’s intended to criminalize us for existing,” said John Parke, one of the plaintiffs suing the City of Clarkston.
The lawsuit also alleges that the Ordinance violates the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). On March 7, 2024, the plaintiffs sent a letter to the city requesting a reasonable modification under the ADA, requesting the City stop its enforcement of the Ordinance against the Plaintiffs based on their disabilities. This Ordinance prevents people living with disabilities in Clarkston who are unhoused from accessing crucial public benefits, health care, and other services, at a time in when these services are crucial to survival.
According to the U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress, persons living with disabilities are amongst the most susceptible to being involuntarily unhoused. U.S. DEPT. OF HOUS. AND URB. DEV., THE 2023 ANNUAL HOMELESS ASSESSMENT REPORT TO CONGRESS 78-79 (2023).
The plaintiffs here seek an injunction to stop enforcement of the Ordinance; a declaration that it is unconstitutional; and other relief deemed necessary by the court.
This lawsuit is a part of Northwest Justice Project’s ongoing efforts to stand with unhoused community members. Washington residents should not be criminally charged or banished from their cities simply because they have no place to go other than the streets. NJP represents clients in pending lawsuits challenging municipal ordinances or government actions that make it a crime to be homeless or threaten the homeless with arrest when they have nowhere else to go. NJP represents unhoused clients who sued the City of Burien for an ordinance that makes it a crime to “exercise nontransitory exclusive control” over any public space. In other words, it is a misdemeanor for a homeless person to sit down to rest. NJP also represents a client in a case against the city of Lacey that is pending in the Washington Supreme Court and addresses where a city may legally force a homeless person to move the car that they sleep in every four hours or risk towing or arrest. NJP clients have also sued state agencies administering the Rights of Way program, which removes individuals from state roads, because the state has failed to comply with the ADA in its removals. All of these ordinances and actions have the effect of pushing residents out of a city and into unsafe living situations, all because these cities have not provided shelter for their homeless residents.
“The City of Clarkston acknowledges it does not have enough shelter or affordable housing,” said John Wolff, Northwest Justice Project. “It cannot banish or criminalize someone for trying to survive. My clients are unhoused residents of Clarkston—this is their home.”
About Northwest Justice Project (NJP):
NJP is a non-profit law firm that provides free civil legal assistance and representation to lowincome people across Washington State. NJP’s mission is to combat injustice, strengthen communities, and protect human dignity. Its work on behalf of low-income families, individuals, and communities addresses fundamental human needs when confronting issues such as domestic violence, threats to housing, income security, education, health care and employment. NJP also hosts and maintains WashingtonLawHelp.org | Helpful information about the law in Washington.
About Elves for the Homeless:
Elves for the Homeless is a small volunteer-based non-profit in Clarkston, Washington. Its mission is to serve the City’s unhoused residents. It provides warming and cooling centers, meals, essential items, and distributes information on resources available to unhoused residents.