Chelan County Courthouse.
Citizens were given an opportunity Monday to voice their opinion on a proposed new Chelan County law to prohibit homeless encampments on property in the unincorporated areas of the county.
Eight people spoke on the needs of the homeless and the safety concerns created by encampments.
"We fear for our safety because of what's happening with these encampments," said Francisco Bloss. "You can see that there's all kinds of waste. The other concerns is fires. I'm afraid we might see something like what was going on in Seattle where they (firefighters) were constantly fighting these fires at the encampments."
"I don't think there's a punitive solution to a structural problem," Zoe Jaspers said. "Resources used on the prosecution of unhoused folks is a waste of resources that could much more effectively used on proactive solutions."
"There are a lot of reasons why people are homeless, and looking at those reasons instead of criminalizing it," added Lacey Grove. "I think we need to look at more humane solutions."
"Criminalizing homeless is not the intent of the code," said Chelan County Commissioner Kevin Overbay. "The only time that someone would be charged is if they were trespassed off of a piece of county property and they returned to that property after they were basically asked to leave the property."
Overbay added, "We're working on the policy and procedure of how we're going to implement the code to ensure that when folks are contacted that they have the ability to have 'wrap-around' services provided to them through a coordinated entry program and to make sure we have our behavioral health unit there."
A possible decision on what's being called a land use code pertaining to unauthorized use of county properties could come as soon as next Monday at the weekly Chelan County commissioners meeting.
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