Redmond City Council is currently looking at potential changes to the city’s permitting policies when it comes to homeless encampments in town.

These changes could have encampments such as Tent City 4 or Camp Unity staying in town for longer periods of time and returning to Redmond more frequently.

Those changes in policy include extending permits from 120-day stays to 180 days, allowing an encampment to stay on a site up to five times in five years with six months between stays, reducing permit costs from about $2,600 to $1,000 and grandfathering current permits to adopt these policies if they are approved by council.

City Council is not yet scheduled to vote on the matter as they are seeking feedback from the community. Residents and other Redmond community members can comment and share their thoughts at Tuesday’s City Council business meeting during the “Items from the Audience” portion, which is at the beginning of the meeting. Tuesday’s meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. and will be in Council Chambers at 15670 N.E. 85th St.

For those who cannot attend the meeting, they can email their comments to council@redmond.gov.

COUNCIL TALKS

City Council recently discussed these policy changes at its study session meeting on Feb. 23.

“It was a good discussion on all these topics,” said Council President Hank Margeson.

While there has been no vote, he said they came to a general agreement regarding extending an encampment’s stay on a site, the length between stays and the number of stays in a five-year period.

Margeson said council had a robust discussion regarding the cost of permits and they are recommending to staff to keep the fees at full cost of recovery as that money goes to pay for staff time, public meetings, public notices and more.

Margeson said council is against reducing the permit cost because encampments are just one aspect of homelessness. If the city were to bring down the cost to $1,000, it would be giving encampments priority over other homeless services such as housing assistance or food for youth.

Most council members were also against the idea of grandfathering current permits. Margeson said for him, if they do this, it would be like changing the rules after the game has already started — meaning they would change the terms of a permit after the community had already approved them.

Margeson said council would also like to see encampments allow service providers to come in to work with residents onsite to help them transition toward permanent housing.

He said council also asked staff to examine what it would look like if something happened at an encampment that would cause them to lose their permit.

A GOOD THING

For Trey Nuzum, who has been with Tent City 4 for eight months and is the encampment’s bookkeeper, a permit that would allow for an extended stay would be great. Taking down and setting up a camp is a lot of work, and being able to stay in one place for six months instead of four would allow them extra time to prepare for their next move and more time to search for their next site.

“Moving a camp is difficult,” he said. “It is what it is.”

Nuzum said they never overstay their permit, noting that people are going out on a limb for them to host their encampment.

Todd Puckett, pastor of Redwood Family Church at 11500 Woodinville-Redmond Rd. N.E., also sees the potential changes as a good thing. His church has hosted encampments on its land in the past.

“I think the city is on the right track and I am thankful to have a church in a community like Redmond,” he said. “A community that is looking for answers to some of the issues in our own back yard. I pray that more churches open their door to the hurting and broken. As a Christ-centered community, we see lives changed every time we step out in faith and minister to the broken.”

Tent City 4, which is currently at Mary Queen of Peace Church in Sammamish, operates under Seattle Housing and Resource Effort/Women’s Housing, Equality and Enhancement League (SHARE/WHEEL) and is an adult-only encampment. Nuzum said they provide shelter for people who have been displaced due to job loss, illness, financial issues and more. They also have residents who are waiting for Social Security or VA benefits to kick in so they can move on to permanent housing. Nuzum said currently, they even have a resident who lost their home in the wildfires that hit central Washington last summer.

Nuzum said the encampment is drug and alcohol free.

“You’re not allowed to be intoxicated on the premise…we don’t tolerate marijuana, either,” he said.

In addition, Tent City 4 conducts sex-offender and warrant checks during intakes and if a person does not pass a check, they call the police. Because of this, all residents and potential residents are required to have a valid form of identification.

COMMUNITY CONCERNS

While advocates and encampment residents such a Nuzum see the policy changes as a positive, community members have raised some concerns.

As a resident living on Education Hill, Brian Hansford is worried that compassion is overruling common sense and safety, adding that more people are worried about speaking up because they do not want to be labeled as not compassionate.

“We need to balance compassion with safety,” he said.

One man, who also lives on Education Hill and served on the Redmond Community Homelessness Task Force to address homelessness but wished to remain anonymous, is also concerned about safety.

He said when an encampment has been in town, he has seen its residents exchanging drugs in the area as well as along the nearby Puget Power Trail.

“I saw them do that,” he said.

He said he has also seen encampment residents get into arguments along the trail.

When asked about the crime rates in areas where and when encampments are in town, Redmond Police Chief Ron Gibson said they are currently looking into the numbers to see if there is a correlation. These results were not available in time for the Reporter’s deadline.

“The Redmond Police Department is conducting further analysis of the impacts of encampments on crime in Redmond,” Gibson said. “Once complete, the analysis will be shared with the City Council during their future discussions concerning encampments in Redmond.”

For Al Rosenthal, who owns an office building in downtown Redmond and was another member of the task force, his concern is that homeless services attract homeless people from outside of Redmond.

“I have no problem with helping the homeless that originate from Redmond, but I do not want services in Redmond that attract homeless from outside of Redmond,” he said.

Redmond Mayor John Marchione said Redmond’s approach to addressing homelessness is part of a regional approach, with Redmond providing services for youth and young adults, Kirkland serving women and families and Bellevue serving men. The communities are dividing the work.

Margeson added that to serve only those from Redmond wold defeat the purpose of a regional approach.

“This is the service we’re providing,” he said.

COMMUNITY INPUT AND NOTIFICATION

Another concern that has been raised is how the city has taken community input into consideration.

While the discussion regarding encampments was prompted by the task force, the member who wished to remain unnamed said their report, which came out in September 2015, did not give any recommendations regarding encampments. However, he said council has made statements that make it seem like the recommendations they are examining came from the task force, when they actually came from the planning commission.

The man said he and other members of the task force feel the city is undermining the work they put in over the last year.

In addition to input, there have been concerns raised regarding community notification.

Rosenthal is concerned that the city does not send residents living near sites notification of potential encampments coming into their neighborhood. The notifications are posted at the Redmond Library and City Hall.

Lisa Rhodes, communications manager for the city said the formal notifications are posted there because the permits are categorized as a zoning amendment and they go through the same process and outlets as other zoning amendments.

While citizens have the opportunity to comment on the topic at City Council meetings, Hansford said they can’t expect people to always be able to attend meetings. He said it’s fair to ask council members and the mayor to come into the neighborhoods, knock on doors and talk to residents and see what they think about the issue.