2007/01/10 Council Agenda Packet

5 of � � ORDINANCE NO. 2920-06 An interim ordinance of the City of Everett relating to temporary use permits and frequency, duration, and conditions for homeless encampments and declaring an emergency. WHEREAS, the City Council does find: 1. The City of Everett intends to protect the interests and needs of Everett neighborhoods, while continuing to partner with Snohomish County to address homelessness; and 2. Providers of shelters and services for the homeless already offer 607 shelter/emergency beds within Everett as well as vouchers to motels; and 3. The City of Everett is a leader among cities in Snohomish County in long- range planning to address homelessness. Recognizing that the problem is complex and includes temporarily as well as chronically homeless people, the City has participated in the Homeless Policy Task Force that produced the 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness in Snohomish County and has been a member of the Housing Consortium of Everett and Snohomish County, which focuses its efforts in getting people out of the temporary shelter network and into longer-term housing, then helping people maintain housing; and 4. In the last several years, neighboring jurisdictions such as the cities of Bothell, Kirkland, and Bellevue were surprised by the arrival of homeless encampments on property owned by local churches and/or temples with little or no notice to the respective jurisdiction; and 5. The absence of regulations that addressed homeless encampments in neighboring jurisdictions did nothing to deter homeless encampments from establishing themselves in the aforementioned neighboring jurisdictions, leaving these jurisdictions little time to prepare an ordinance, give notice and opportunity to comment to neighborhood residents and negotiate the terms of a temporary use permit; and 6. There are constitutional and statutory constraints on the City's ability to prevent or regulate homeless encampments in Everett; and 31) 1