Washington state Dems seek to ban 'hostile architecture' that deters homeless encampments

Democratic politicians in Washington state recently proposed a measure to prohibit cities from using "hostile architecture" to deter homeless individuals from setting up encampments in public spaces, KIRO-TV reported Friday.

Senate Bill 6231, sponsored by four Democratic state senators, was introduced earlier this month and would prohibit "the use of hostile architecture elements for publicly accessible buildings or real property." If passed, the city would be banned from installing or constructing design elements meant to "restrict the use of any public space by people experiencing homelessness," the legislation stated.

The proposed bill defines "hostile architecture" as "any building or structure that is designed or intended to prevent people experiencing homelessness from sitting or lying on the building or structure at street level." It would not ban design elements that prevent skateboarding and rollerblading or restrict vehicle access to specific spaces. The legislation would also not prevent Washington from installing the elements on state land, including highways.

If passed, the bill will take effect in January 2025.

Earlier this month, the Olympian reported that Washington spent $700,000 in taxpayer funds, according to Kris Abrudan, Washington Department of Transportation's communication director, to install "hundreds of large boulders at sites of former encampments." Most of the boulders were placed at Sleater Kinney Road and Interstate 5 in Olympia, the media outlet stated.

Abrudan explained that in all the instances where "more expensive encampment deterrent tools like boulders" were used, the areas had experienced challenges for years.

"Sleater Kinney and Wheeler combined had over 200 people living on state right of way in close proximity to I-5. The risk of re-encampment and associated exponential growth and history of encampments combined with appropriate topography to support boulders ultimately drove the decision for use at these select sites," she told the Olympian.

State Democratic Senator Liz Lovelett, the bill's prime sponsor, recently stated that she has "mixed feelings" about using boulders to deter homeless encampments.

"Having people locating where they are that close to folks who are driving 80 miles per hour seems kind of inherently unsafe," Lovelett told Axios. "But is putting almost a million dollars of boulders there the solution?"

She noted that the legislation may need to be changed after architects voiced concerns that the bill did not specifically define which design structures would be banned.

Supporters of the proposed measure argued that the state should redirect funds to address the cause of the homelessness crisis.

Michelle Thomas with the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance stated, "Using public dollars on hostile architecture is a sign to everyone housed or unhoused that our government is not serious about addressing the root causes of homelessness."

"Those boulders were explicitly to stop people from lying down," Thomas contined. "And it's not to stop you from getting to the freeway. You can climb over those boulders and get onto the freeway."

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