Burien Proposes Transitional Housing Ban that May Violate State Law
While council debates banning tiny houses in most of the city, Burien's popular police chief explains why he won't arrest people for being homeless.
By Erica C. Barnett
The Burien City Council discussed legislation Monday night that would ban transitional housing, including tiny house villages, within 500 feet of any school, park, day care, playground, or recreational facility, but—at the last minute—decided to hold off on approving it until they can figure out whether state law prohibits their plan. The original proposed amendment, from Councilmember Stephanie Mora, set the radius at 1,000 feet.
If passed, the ban would likely doom a planned tiny house village on property owned by Seattle City Light near SeaTac airport, because the land is located within 500 feet of private Kennedy High School, whose students have been a focus of "protect the children"-style objections to the proposed drug-and-alcohol-free village. Even without the ban, the legislation (as amended, also by Mora, last week) would prohibit the village unless the council amended it, because it restricts transitional housing to parcels much smaller (2 acres max) than City Light's property.
It's unclear whether the proposed restrictions would be legal.
During the meeting, council members as well as Burien's city attorney, Garmon Newsom II, brought up a state law passed in 2021, HB 1220, that prohibits cities from banning transitional housing and shelter in residential areas, although he described it inaccurately—first saying that it only applied in areas where hotels are allowed (Burien, notably, has no hotels); then clarifying that it also said cities must allow transitional housing in residential zones, but that it was fine to bar it in "specific locations" because "we're not excluding an entire zone. We're just creating areas where these types of facilities may not be allowed."
The legislation, sponsored by state Rep. Strom Peterson (D-21, Edmonds) says: "A city shall not prohibit transitional housing or permanent supportive housing in any zones in which residential dwelling units or hotels are allowed."
The law goes on to allow cities to impose "reasonable" spacing and occupancy requirements. However, it does not appear to allow the kind of blanket ban Burien is now considering, according to Futurewise director Alex Brennan, whose organization was a key advocate for 1220. "The intent was just what the bill says—you have to allow transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, et cetera, anywhere that you allow residential," Brennan said.
Rep. Strom Peterson (D-21, Edmonds), the lead sponsor of HB 1220, said the intent of his bill was to require cities to allow transitional housing, affordable housing, and shelter anywhere housing or hotels are allowed. "People should be allowed to live where people are allowed to live. Whether you're making a million dollars a year or can spend $500 a night in a five-star hotel, or you're someone who is much less fortunate, you should be able to live in the same area," Peterson said. "I don't see how a blanket ban like that follows the law."
Last year, Peterson sponsored legislation, HB 2474, that would have given the state the ability to withhold funds from cities that violate the law, but it got stuck in the senate local government committee; Peterson says he plans to reintroduce the bill next year.
Council member Jimmy Matta read a long section of the legislation out loud at last night's meeting to illustrate the complexity of the law. "It just goes on and on, and so— I mean, I just can't vote on this tonight," Matta said. The council will take up the legislation again next week.
Council members have already stipulated that any tiny house village in Burien must be "high-barrier," banning anyone who uses drugs or alcohol or has a mental health condition that makes them hard to place in traditional shelter.
"I want to make sure that we are keeping that in mind. As we move forward with this. I also understand that we are looking only at high barriers and that's important to me," Councilmember Linda Akey said. "And that means that housing for some people is treatment beds. ... So that's why I'm still in favor of this but at the same time, I'm not interested in creating spaces with low barriers, without treatment services for people
Sheriff, Police Chief Answer Questions About Camping Ban
Several hours before that council discussion, King County Sheriff Patty Cole-Tindall and Burien Police Chief Ted Boe joined a panel of experts at the Highline Performing Arts Center to discuss homelessness, crime, and law enforcement in Burien.
In March, Cole-Tindall sued the city over a new law that bans homeless people from "camping" in Burien at all times, and Boe, who works for the sheriff's office, announced that Burien police would not enforce the law. In response, Burien City Manager Adolfo Bailon called for Boe's removal—a move that backfired immediately, as dozens of Burien police officers signed a letter expressing "no confidence" in Bailon. Boe's popularity with the public was on display Monday evening, as people waiting to enter the auditorium approached him to offer support, handshakes, and hugs.
Boe said he wanted to respect people's feelings about crime. "The fear of crime is every bit as real as the statistics. If you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, there's no level of facts I'm going to give you that will make you feel safe," he said. But, he continued, there's no denying that crime is down across the board in Burien; the only exception, he said, is "crimes against society," which have seen a major spike because the police are aggressively enforcing laws against public drug use and illegal gun possession.
Boe didn't mention Bailon, who was hired in 2022, by name. Instead, he noted that encampments have always been an issue in Burien, one that the city has addressed in the past by bringing subject-matter experts together to come up with solutions that actually address people's underlying issues, including low-barrier options like LEAD—a program that's specifically designed to reduce crime by diverting people with addiction and mental illness into low-barrier housing and harm reduction-based treatment.
"I believe that we are best served with experts in treatment and addiction advising me, instead of me pretending I'm an expert in addiction," Boe said. "We have done this over and over and over again. We bring a group of subject matter experts in[to] a room. We communicate, we coordinate, and we execute a plan. That is how we have done it every single time."
Bailon and Burien Mayor Kevin Schilling have vowed not to pay the sheriff's office if officers won't enforce the camping ban, or an earlier version of the ban that allowed people to sleep and use survival gear between 7 pm and 6 am if no shelter was available. (Responding to a heckler who said the law was just "amended," not repealed, Cole-Tindall said, "it was not amended, actually—right in the ordinance, if you read it, it says right there... 'repealed.' So we follow the words and that's why we are where we are.")
The sheriff's office has said they can't enforce a law that's no longer in effect. Cole-Tindall said Monday that the county remains open to sitting down with the city to resolve the impasse, but only with a professional mediator in the room.
"We need somebody who is a disinterested party who can help bring the two sides to a resolution at this point," she said. "I don't want this for your community. I don't want this for my officers. I want a resolution."