Seattle Human Rights Commission 
1963 – 2016· 53 years of championing human rights and fostering a just future 

 
Resolution No. 16-02-Seeking the Immediate Release of Homeless Encampment Sweep Data &
Termination of the Use of Department of Correction Workers for Homeless Encampment Sweeps
WHEREAS, the City of Seattle (hereafter the “City”) was declared to be a Human Rights City on
December 10, 2012, committing itself to protect, respect, and fulfill the full range of inherent human
rights for all, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and numerous other international
human rights instruments; and
WHEREAS, the Seattle Human Rights Commission (hereafter the “Commission”) is committed to
protecting and advocating for justice, human rights, and the equal treatment of all people who live in
Seattle; and
WHEREAS, Article 24 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees all the protected right to
rest with peace and dignity; and
WHEREAS, Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees all the right to an
adequate standard of living, including the right to security in the event of unemployment or other lack of
livelihood in circumstance beyond control; and
WHEREAS, roughly 4,500 adults and children live without shelter within King County, almost 3,000 of
which are in Seattle;[1] and
WHEREAS, Seattle leaders adopted a plan in 2008 requiring City officials provide homeless residents a
72-hour notice before clearing an encampment, and to provide outreach workers to connect homeless
residents with shelter beds or other services;[2] and
WHEREAS, the City and State of Washington (hereafter the “State”) have engaged in a practice of
“sweeping” homeless encampments within the City, displacing the residents and seizing or discarding of
personal property; and
WHEREAS, in recent years, the City has engaged in more than 500 such sweeps per annum;[3] and
WHEREAS, the City and State have often discarded the personal property of encampment residents,
including identification cards, critical medication, and necessities of life, which residents may be unable
to replace;[4] and
WHEREAS, this practice is exacerbated by official policy to destroy or dispose of items without an
“apparent utility” or valued by city workers at less than $25, allowing the destruction of sentimental
personal objects and items that impoverished residents cannot easily replace; and
 

 WHEREAS, even when property is stored for the purposes of return to encampment residents, it may be
stored in facilities at a distance from residents, precluding access to the personal property;[5] and
WHEREAS, the City declared its intention to have outreach workers present at encampment sweeps to
connect encampment residents with social services; and
WHEREAS, advocates and the Commission are concerned that, at times, the City is sweeping
encampments without outreach workers present and/or without providing proper advanced notice per the
2008 City plan; and
WHEREAS, the sweeps displace encampment residents and, therefore, disrupt efforts by social service
organizations to reach and provide services to these residents; and
WHEREAS, sweeps without outreach resources and without notice represent a sudden and violent
intrusion upon the lives of encampment residents who may struggle with trauma and mental illness; and
WHEREAS, the State has previously employed Department of Corrections (hereafter “DOC”) offender
work crews to conduct these sweeps in Seattle;[6] and
WHEREAS, DOC work crews are comprised of individuals who are at risk of homelessness due to our
area’s housing shortage and barriers to housing for formerly incarcerated individuals; and
WHEREAS, DOC work crews are less likely than City employees to be familiar with City policy
respecting the property and rights of homeless individuals;[7][10] and
WHEREAS, as of 2012, the average wages for state prisoners ranged from $0.13 to $0.32 per hour,[8]
and it is believed the DOC pays similar wages; and
WHEREAS, the employing of DOC work crews allows the City to cut costs incurred by paying minimum
wage or market rate, and
WHEREAS, the widespread use of prison labor in the United States developed following the end of
slavery as a means of procuring cheap labor outside the traditional market system;[9] and
WHEREAS, the City, despite requests from the Commission, has failed to provide additional meaningful
information about DOC work crew use for encampment sweeps; and
WHEREAS, the City has also hired private contractors from Cascadia Cleaning and Removal, a company
in the business of making urban spaces inhospitable to the homeless;[10] and
WHEREAS, Mayor Ed Murray has conceded “making up [his policy towards encampment sweeps] as we
go along”;[11] and

 

 WHEREAS, the District Court for the Western District of Washington held that similar sweeps using
DOC work crews in Clark County violate the constitutional rights of the homeless based on the the
wanton destruction of the personal property of encampment residents by police;[12] and
WHEREAS, the United States Department of Justice has characterized practices such as that engaged in
by the City as “essentially criminalizing the status of being poor or homeless,” and urged the City to
adopt more stringent regulations on encampment sweeps, so as to minimize intrusions on the
constitutional rights of the homeless;[13] and
WHEREAS, the City of Olympia is transitioning away from using penal labor to conduct encampment
sweeps;[14] and
BE IT RESOLVED, the City immediately release information concerning the use of DOC work crews
and private labor in homeless encampment sweeps, past and present, including all relevant contracts,
decision-making documents, and project reports; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the City immediately release to the Commission and Public , information
outlining the full extent of the City’s use of and/or engagement of DOC work crews from November 6,
2013, to present, including but not limited to encampment sweeps; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the City immediately cease employing or partnering with DOC work
crews and private for-profit companies to conduct encampment sweeps, which is an essential municipal
function deserving of fairly paid public employees, if it has not already; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the City commit to end the use of DOC work crews, particularly when
essential municipal functions are at issue.

Adopted by the Seattle Human Rights Commission on November 21st, 2016

Marcel Baugh, Co-Chair

Danielle Wallace, Co-Chair

[1] 2016 One Night Count, Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness, available at
http://www.homelessinfo.org/resources/one_night_count/2016_ONC-Street%20Count%20chart.pdf.
[2] Multi-Agency Administrative Rules Re: Unauthorized Encampments, City of Seattle, available at
http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2016/04/05/1459901444-dr_mdar_08-01.pdf.

 

 [3] Ansel Herz, Privatizing the Clearing of Homeless Encampments, The Stranger, May 4, 2016, available at
http://www.thestranger.com/news/2016/05/04/24038273/privatizing-the-clearing-of-homeless-encampments.
[4] Mike Baker, Chaos, trash and tears: Inside Seattle’s flawed homeless sweeps, The Seattle Times, Aug. 19, 2016,
available at http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/chaos-trash-and-tears-inside-seattles-flawed-homelesssweeps/ (stating that a maintenance superintendent for the Washington State Department of Transportation
acknowledged that encampment clearing crews have thrown away items they likely should have kept and
interviewing a camper who experienced this); Ansel Herz, How the City of Seattle Trashes Homeless People's
Belongings and Chases Them Around Town, SLOG, Apr. 6, 2016, available at
http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2016/04/06/23909768/how-the-city-of-seattle-trashes-homeless-peoplesbelongings-and-chases-them-around-town.
[5] Baker, supra note 4 (“Salvaged items are in a building . . . in an industrial area that’s about an hourlong walk
from the City’s downtown core”; “Kenny Alcantara, who manages the Seattle DOT sign shop, said only 1 or 2
percent of the materials that are stored in the shop are ever picked up. The department doesn’t have the resources to
seek out homeless residents to reconnect them with their belongings, he said, so almost all of it ends up in the
trash”).
[6] Herz, supra note 4.
[7] Id.
[8]
Heather Ann Thompson, The Prison Industrial Complex: A Growth Industry in a Shrinking
Economy, New Labor Forum, Volume 21, Number 3, Fall 2012, pg. 41 (2012), available at
http://havenscenter.wisc.edu/files/Thompson.NewLaborForm.pdf.
[9]
Whitney Benns, American Slavery, Reinvented, The Atlantic, Sep. 21, 2015, available at
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/prison-labor-in-america/406177/.
[10] Herz, supra note 3.
[11] Daniel Beekman and Bob Young, Mayor Murray on clearing out The Jungle: ‘We’re actually making this up as
we go along’, The Seattle Times, May 25, 2016, available at http://www.seattletimes.com/seattlenews/politics/clearing-homeless-from-the-jungle-may-take-more-time-mayor-says/.
[12] The Associated Press, Sweeps of Homeless Camps in Washington State Violated Rights, Judge Rules, N.Y.
Times, Sep. 17, 2016, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/us/sweeps-of-homeless-camps-inwashington-state-violated-rights-judge-rules.html?_r=1; Ellis v. Clark Cty. Dep't of Corr., No. 15-5449 RJB, 2016
WL 4945286 (W.D. Wash. Sept. 16, 2016).
[13] Heidi Groover, DOJ: Seattle Encampment Sweeps Legislation Recognizes Homeless People's Rights "Must Be
Respected", SLOG, Oct. 13, 2016, available at http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2016/10/13/24620200/doj-seattleencampment-sweeps-legislation-recognizes-homeless-peoples-rights-must-be-respected.
[14] Andy Hobbs, Private company sought to clean up homeless camps in Olympia, The Olympian, Nov. 18, 2016,
available at http://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article115532683.html.