SENT VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
July 9, 2020
Mayor Cassie Franklin
Chief of Police Dan Templeman
City Council Members
2930 Wetmore Avenue
Everett, WA 98201
Code Enforcement Unit Supervisor Eileen Hinkley
3002 Wetmore Avenue
Everett, WA 98201
Re: Request to Halt Encampment Removal at Rucker Avenue

Board President
Executive Director

Senior Staff Attorneys

Staff Attorneys
Legal Fellow/Attorney

Dear Mayor Cassie Franklin, Chief of Police Dan Templeman, City
Council Members, and Code Enforcement Unit Supervisor Eileen
Hinkley,
It has come to our attention that the City of Everett has issued an
Emergency Order regarding the vacant lot on Rucker Avenue, where
dozens of homeless individuals currently reside. It appears that, on the
heels of another sweep just days prior, the City is poised to rush this
encampment removal and the destruction of residents’ homes without
providing safe alternative places for people to go or meaningful notice.
As the City is well aware: we are in the midst of a global pandemic
unprecedented in modern history. Forcibly dispersing some of the City’s
most vulnerable residents – who have nowhere else to go – throughout
Everett runs afoul of public health expert guidelines pertaining to COVID19 and will cause great harm. We write to urge the City to rescind its
Order and halt the removal of the encampment.
While COVID-19 has spread throughout Washington State, it has
impacted some regions more than others – including Snohomish County,
which has one of the highest numbers of confirmed cases in the
state.1 According to Dr. Chris Spitters, health officer for the Snohomish
Health District, cases have escalated over the past few weeks, reaching
“unprecedented figures that clearly do signal obviously increased case

1

Washington Department of Health, COVID-19 Data Dashboard, Confirmed Cases,
Hospitalizations and Deaths by County (July 8, 2020), available at
https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/NovelCoronavirusOutbreak2020COVID19/DataD
ashboard.

 rates and increased transmission.”2 Dr. Spitters also expressed concern
that many new infections in Snohomish County are among populations
who do not know anyone with the disease or work in jobs that put them in
higher risk of contracting the virus, signaling there are many cases the
county is unaware of.3
As recognized by Governor Jay Inslee’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order,
a critical component to slowing the spread of the virus is for all
Washingtonians to stay home as much as possible.4 Minimizing exposure
to COVID-19 is especially critical for particularly vulnerable populations,
including those experiencing homelessness, who are at higher risk of
contracting and developing serious symptoms of COVID-19 than those
who are housed.5 In fact, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) has issued guidance specifically related to unsheltered
homelessness, noting a “[l]ack of housing contributes to poor physical and
mental health outcomes, and linkages to permanent housing for people
experiencing homelessness should continue to be a priority.”6
Thus, the CDC has advised that absent the availability of individual
housing units for everyone in an encampment, cities should “allow people
who are living unsheltered or in encampments to remain where they are”
as “clearing encampments can cause people to disperse throughout the
community and break connections with service providers. This increases
the potential for infectious disease spread.”7 Instead, the CDC
recommends that, to combat the spread of COVID-19, jurisdictions
provide hygiene facilities and materials and help people living in
encampments maintain sufficient space to social distance.8
Given the public health emergency caused by COVID-19 and the
numerous evictions of people experiencing homelessness off of public
2

See Ryan Blethen, Snohomish County might move back to Phase 1 if coronavirus cases
climb more rapidly, SEATTLE TIMES, June 30, 2020,
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/snohomish-county-might-move-backto-phase-1-if-coronavirus-cases-start-rapidly-climbing/.
3
Id.
4
Washington Governor Jay Inslee News & Media, Inslee announces "Stay Home, Stay
Healthy" order,
March 23, 2020, available at https://www.governor.wa.gov/news-media/insleeannounces-stay-home-stay-healthy%C2%A0order.
5
See e.g., Alyse D. Oneto, Samantha Batko, Why Homeless Encampment Sweeps Are
Dangerous during COVID-19, Urban Wire, May 12, 2020, https://www.urban.org/urbanwire/why-homeless-encampment-sweeps-are-dangerous-during-covid-19.
6
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Interim Guidance on Unsheltered
Homelessness and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) for Homeless Service
Providers and Local Officials (March 22, 2020), available at
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/homeless-shelters/unshelteredhomelessness.html.
7
Id.
8
Id.

 property, community members in Everett made the decision to meet
urgent needs by utilizing privately owned land to temporarily shelter
homeless residents and provide resources and support. News reports
indicate every effort is being made by local advocates to find safe
alternative places for people to go within 30 days. The City should
support efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 and get residents housed,
not disrupt the plans already underway, inflicting possibly irreparable
harm in the process.
Moreover, if the City insists on engaging in sweeps, despite the pandemic,
it still must do so in compliance with the federal and state constitutions,
and the ACLU-WA is prepared to ensure that Everett respects the rights of
its unhoused community members. For example, the state and federal
constitution prohibit cruel punishment – including criminalizing being
“homeless in public places” and “conduct that is an unavoidable
consequence of being homeless – namely sitting, lying, or sleeping on the
streets.” Martin v. Boise, 920 F.3d 584, 617 (9th Cir. 2019). See also City
of Everett, Wash. v. Bluhm, No. CRP 7006, slip op. at 6-7 (Everett, Wash.
Mun. Court Jan. 12, 2016) (recognizing the homeless facilities are
“grossly inadequate and leave no reasonable alternative for a large
segment of the homeless population of Everett” and finding the City’s
code outlawing camping to be unconstitutional as applied to the homeless
population).
Those experiencing homelessness are similarly entitled to the same
protections against the invasion of their homes and disturbance of private
affairs as those in brick and mortar housing. State v. Pippin, 200 Wn.
App. 826, 845, 403 P.3d 907 (2017) (“Against this backdrop, to call
homelessness voluntary, and thus unworthy of basic privacy protections is
to walk blind among the realities around us. Worse, such an argument
would strip those on the street of the protections given the rest of us
directly because of their poverty. Our constitution means something
better.”). See also Lavan v. City of Los Angeles, 693 F.3d 1022, 1029,
1031 (9th Cir. 2012) (noting the “violation of a City ordinance does not
vitiate the Fourth Amendment's protection of one's property. Were it
otherwise, the government could seize and destroy any illegally parked car
or unlawfully unattended dog without implicating the Fourth Amendment”
and that the City “almost certainly could not argue that it's summary
destruction of homeless peoples’ property was reasonable under the
Fourth Amendment”).
The City must also provide sufficient and adequate notice before seizing
the homes and belongings of those experiencing homelessness. As the
courts have repeatedly made clear, “[t]he government may not take
property like a thief in the night; rather, it must announce its intentions and
give the property owner a chance to argue against the taking. This simple

 rule holds regardless of whether the property in question is an Escalade or
an EDAR, a Cadillac or a cart.” Lavan v. City of Los Angeles, 693 F.3d
1022, 1032 (9th Cir. 2012) (internal quotations and citations omitted).
The City’s threatened encampment removal at Rucker Avenue does not
appear to comply with these constitutional provisions. The City has
provided minimal warning and nowhere for residents to go, increasing the
stress and severely exacerbating the health risks associated with the
sweeps. The City has also failed to take steps to ensure residents’ homes
and belongings will be safeguarded, rather than summarily destroyed.
In light of these circumstances, we strongly urge the City to rescind its
Order regarding the encampment on Rucker Avenue today and focus its
efforts on safely housing Everett’s homeless residents and preventing the
spread of COVID-19.
Sincerely,

Breanne Schuster
Staff Attorney
ACLU of Washington