Public space/local use laws

AN ACT Relating to establishing statewide standards for when 1
local governments may enforce laws regulating the use of public space 2
for life-sustaining activities; adding a new section to chapter 35.21 3
RCW; adding a new section to chapter 35A.21 RCW; adding a new section 4
to chapter 36.01 RCW; and creating a new section. 5
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:6
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that:7
(a) Evictions and homelessness are increasing and are at 8
unprecedented levels across our state, demanding urgent action;9
(b) Many families across Washington state have been displaced or 10
are at risk of displacement due to skyrocketing housing costs and an 11
ongoing severe shortage of affordable housing; 12
(c) The absence of cohesive state guidance has resulted in an 13
arbitrary patchwork of legislation regarding the use of public 14
spaces, leading to inconsistent enforcement and further displacement 15
of people experiencing homelessness; 16
(d) State and local governments have a shared responsibility in 17
addressing the homelessness crisis and transitioning unsheltered 18
residents into housing; 19
(e) Laws and policies that punish people who are homeless for 20
engaging in necessary, life-sustaining activities in public spaces 21
H-2524.4
HOUSE BILL 2489
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Gregerson, Peterson, Farivar, Reed, Taylor,
Parshley, Salahuddin, Obras, Ryu, Mena, Doglio, Macri, Thai, Ormsby,
Street, Hill, Scott, Ramel, Thomas, Berry, Fosse, Simmons, Zahn,
Goodman, and Bergquist
Read first time 01/14/26. Referred to Committee on Housing.
p. 1 HB 2489
inflict harm on already vulnerable individuals, exacerbate barriers 1
to stability, and undermine pathways to housing; and2
(f) Enforcement-first approaches do not address the root causes 3
of homelessness, including the lack of affordable housing, behavioral 4
health supports, and economic stability, and may divert limited 5
public resources away from effective, evidence-based solutions.6
(2) The legislature intends to: 7
(a) Provide clear and consistent statewide guidance to local 8
governments to ensure that responses to homelessness are aligned with 9
evidence-based, low-barrier, and housing-first principles, and 10
prevent the adoption or enforcement of policies that displace 11
individuals when adequate alternative shelter space is not available;12
(b) Protect individuals from penalties for engaging in life-13
sustaining activities in public when no adequate alternative shelter 14
space is available; and 15
(c) Support local governments in developing solutions that are 16
fair, effective, and humane. 17
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 35.21 18
RCW to read as follows: 19
(1) A city or town may not adopt or enforce any city or town law 20
that criminalizes, penalizes, or otherwise prohibits a person from 21
engaging in life-sustaining activities on public property unless the 22
city or town can demonstrate that adequate alternative shelter space 23
was available at the time and place of the conduct.24
(2) Any action taken in violation of subsection (1) of this 25
section is invalid. A person cited, charged, or otherwise penalized 26
in violation of subsection (1) of this section may raise as a defense 27
that their conduct constituted a necessary life-sustaining activity 28
protected under this section and that no adequate alternative shelter 29
space was available at the time and place of the conduct. Courts 30
shall dismiss such actions upon a showing of probable cause for this 31
defense. 32
(3) This section must be liberally construed to protect the 33
constitutional and human rights of all individuals engaged in life-34
sustaining activities when adequate alternative shelter space is 35
unavailable. 36
(4) A person or organization may bring an action for injunctive 37
or declaratory relief to challenge the enforcement of a city or town 38
law that violates the protections provided in this section.39
p. 2 HB 2489
(5) A prevailing plaintiff in any action brought under subsection 1
(4) of this section is entitled to reasonable attorneys' fees and 2
costs. Plaintiffs are not liable for attorneys' fees and are only 3
liable for defense costs if the action is found to be frivolous.4
(6) Nothing in this section creates a private right of action for 5
monetary damages for any person, except as provided in subsection (5) 6
of this section regarding attorneys' fees and costs.7
(7) This section applies to all causes of action commenced on or 8
after the effective date of this section, and to all city or town 9
laws existing on or after the effective date of this section, 10
regardless of when the cause of action arose or when the city or town 11
laws were enacted. To this extent, this section applies 12
retroactively, but in all other respects it applies prospectively.13
(8) Nothing in this section creates a right to shelter, an 14
independent cause of action, or a claim related to admission to, 15
discharge from, or continued access to shelter. The provisions of 16
this section must be used solely to determine whether adequate 17
alternative shelter space exists for purposes of enforcement under 18
this section. 19
(9) For the purposes of this section: 20
(a) "Adequate alternative shelter space" means a space that:21
(i) Is legally and physically accessible to the individual 22
experiencing homelessness; 23
(ii) Does not require the individual experiencing homelessness to 24
sacrifice any other right afforded to them under federal, state, or 25
local law; 26
(iii) Is available to the individual at no cost on a continuing 27
basis and does not require more than one application or check-in per 28
24-hour period, except where necessary for health or safety. 29
Discharge or denial of continued shelter may occur only for 30
documented safety or capacity reasons, or pursuant to objective, 31
written, and consistently applied shelter policies necessary for the 32
health, safety, or operation of the shelter. Policies that 33
effectively deny sustained access to shelter must be presumed 34
inadequate; 35
(iv) Must accommodate any disabilities, as well as pets, partners 36
(whether legally married or not), family members, other support 37
persons, and possessions the individual wishes to bring with them;38
(v) May be a tiny home or similar structure that has locking 39
doors; appropriate climate-controlled mechanisms based on the 40
p. 3 HB 2489
location of the home or structure; and sanitary and cooking 1
facilities or is part of a community with common sanitary and cooking 2
facilities; and 3
(vi) Is located within the territorial limits of the city or town 4
seeking to enforce a city or town law governed by this section;5
(b) "City or town law" includes any city or town ordinances, 6
policies, rules, regulations, or other official controls;7
(c) "Criminalize" or "penalize" means to make conduct subject to 8
criminal, civil, or administrative enforcement, including fines, 9
arrest, citation, or forced displacement; and 10
(d) "Life-sustaining activities" includes moving, resting, 11
sitting, standing, lying down, sleeping, protecting oneself and 12
personal property from the elements, eating, drinking, and other 13
basic activities necessary for survival. 14
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 35A.21 15
RCW to read as follows: 16
(1) A code city may not adopt or enforce any code city law that 17
criminalizes, penalizes, or otherwise prohibits a person from 18
engaging in life-sustaining activities on public property unless the 19
code city can demonstrate that adequate alternative shelter space was 20
available at the time and place of the conduct. 21
(2) Any action taken in violation of subsection (1) of this 22
section is invalid. A person cited, charged, or otherwise penalized 23
in violation of subsection (1) of this section may raise as a defense 24
that their conduct constituted a necessary life-sustaining activity 25
protected under this section and that no adequate alternative shelter 26
space was available at the time and place of the conduct. Courts 27
shall dismiss such actions upon a showing of probable cause for this 28
defense. 29
(3) This section must be liberally construed to protect the 30
constitutional and human rights of all individuals engaged in life-31
sustaining activities when adequate alternative shelter space is 32
unavailable. 33
(4) A person or organization may bring an action for injunctive 34
or declaratory relief to challenge the enforcement of a code city law 35
that violates the protections provided in this section.36
(5) A prevailing plaintiff in any action brought under subsection 37
(4) of this section is entitled to reasonable attorneys' fees and 38
p. 4 HB 2489
costs. Plaintiffs are not liable for attorneys' fees and are only 1
liable for defense costs if the action is found to be frivolous.2
(6) Nothing in this section creates a private right of action for 3
monetary damages for any person, except as provided in subsection (5) 4
of this section regarding attorneys' fees and costs.5
(7) This section applies to all causes of action commenced on or 6
after the effective date of this section, and to all code city laws 7
existing on or after the effective date of this section, regardless 8
of when the cause of action arose or when the code city laws were 9
enacted. To this extent, this section applies retroactively, but in 10
all other respects it applies prospectively. 11
(8) Nothing in this section creates a right to shelter, an 12
independent cause of action, or a claim related to admission to, 13
discharge from, or continued access to shelter. The provisions of 14
this section must be used solely to determine whether adequate 15
alternative shelter space exists for purposes of enforcement under 16
this section. 17
(9) For the purposes of this section: 18
(a) "Adequate alternative shelter space" means a space that:19
(i) Is legally and physically accessible to the individual 20
experiencing homelessness; 21
(ii) Does not require the individual experiencing homelessness to 22
sacrifice any other right afforded to them under federal, state, or 23
local law; 24
(iii) Is available to the individual at no cost on a continuing 25
basis and does not require more than one application or check-in per 26
24-hour period, except where necessary for health or safety. 27
Discharge or denial of continued shelter may occur only for 28
documented safety or capacity reasons, or pursuant to objective, 29
written, and consistently applied shelter policies necessary for the 30
health, safety, or operation of the shelter. Policies that 31
effectively deny sustained access to shelter must be presumed 32
inadequate; 33
(iv) Must accommodate any disabilities, as well as pets, partners 34
(whether legally married or not), family members, other support 35
persons, and possessions the individual wishes to bring with them;36
(v) May be a tiny home or similar structure that has locking 37
doors; appropriate climate-controlled mechanisms based on the 38
location of the home or structure; and sanitary and cooking 39
p. 5 HB 2489
facilities or is part of a community with common sanitary and cooking 1
facilities; and 2
(vi) Is located within the territorial limits of the code city 3
seeking to enforce a code city law governed by this section;4
(b) "Code city law" includes any code city ordinances, policies, 5
rules, regulations, or other official controls; 6
(c) "Criminalize" or "penalize" means to make conduct subject to 7
criminal, civil, or administrative enforcement, including fines, 8
arrest, citation, or forced displacement; and 9
(d) "Life-sustaining activities" includes moving, resting, 10
sitting, standing, lying down, sleeping, protecting oneself and 11
personal property from the elements, eating, drinking, and other 12
basic activities necessary for survival. 13
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 36.01 14
RCW to read as follows: 15
(1) A county may not adopt or enforce any county law that 16
criminalizes, penalizes, or otherwise prohibits a person from 17
engaging in life-sustaining activities on public property unless the 18
county can demonstrate that adequate alternative shelter space was 19
available at the time and place of the conduct. 20
(2) Any action taken in violation of subsection (1) of this 21
section is invalid. A person cited, charged, or otherwise penalized 22
in violation of subsection (1) of this section may raise as a defense 23
that their conduct constituted a necessary life-sustaining activity 24
protected under this section and that no adequate alternative shelter 25
space was available at the time and place of the conduct. Courts 26
shall dismiss such actions upon a showing of probable cause for this 27
defense. 28
(3) This section must be liberally construed to protect the 29
constitutional and human rights of all individuals engaged in life-30
sustaining activities when adequate alternative shelter space is 31
unavailable. 32
(4) A person or organization may bring an action for injunctive 33
or declaratory relief to challenge the enforcement of a county law 34
that violates the protections provided in this section.35
(5) A prevailing plaintiff in any action brought under subsection 36
(4) of this section is entitled to reasonable attorneys' fees and 37
costs. Plaintiffs are not liable for attorneys' fees and are only 38
liable for defense costs if the action is found to be frivolous.39
p. 6 HB 2489
(6) Nothing in this section creates a private right of action for 1
monetary damages for any person, except as provided in subsection (5) 2
of this section regarding attorneys' fees and costs.3
(7) This section applies to all causes of action commenced on or 4
after the effective date of this section, and to all county laws 5
existing on or after the effective date of this section, regardless 6
of when the cause of action arose or when the county laws were 7
enacted. To this extent, this section applies retroactively, but in 8
all other respects it applies prospectively. 9
(8) Nothing in this section creates a right to shelter, an 10
independent cause of action, or a claim related to admission to, 11
discharge from, or continued access to shelter. The provisions of 12
this section must be used solely to determine whether adequate 13
alternative shelter space exists for purposes of enforcement under 14
this section. 15
(9) For the purposes of this section: 16
(a) "Adequate alternative shelter space" means a space that:17
(i) Is legally and physically accessible to the individual 18
experiencing homelessness; 19
(ii) Does not require the individual experiencing homelessness to 20
sacrifice any other right afforded to them under federal, state, or 21
local law; 22
(iii) Is available to the individual at no cost on a continuing 23
basis and does not require more than one application or check-in per 24
24-hour period, except where necessary for health or safety. 25
Discharge or denial of continued shelter may occur only for 26
documented safety or capacity reasons, or pursuant to objective, 27
written, and consistently applied shelter policies necessary for the 28
health, safety, or operation of the shelter. Policies that 29
effectively deny sustained access to shelter must be presumed 30
inadequate; 31
(iv) Must accommodate any disabilities, as well as pets, partners 32
(whether legally married or not), family members, other support 33
persons, and possessions the individual wishes to bring with them;34
(v) May be a tiny home or similar structure that has locking 35
doors; appropriate climate-controlled mechanisms based on the 36
location of the home or structure; and sanitary and cooking 37
facilities or is part of a community with common sanitary and cooking 38
facilities; and 39
p. 7 HB 2489
(vi) Is located within the territorial limits of the county 1
seeking to enforce a county law governed by this section;2
(b) "County law" includes any county ordinances, policies, rules, 3
regulations, or other official controls; 4
(c) "Criminalize" or "penalize" means to make conduct subject to 5
criminal, civil, or administrative enforcement, including fines, 6
arrest, citation, or forced displacement; and 7
(d) "Life-sustaining activities" includes moving, resting, 8
sitting, standing, lying down, sleeping, protecting oneself and 9
personal property from the elements, eating, drinking, and other 10
basic activities necessary for survival. 11
--- END ---
p. 8 HB 2489