State Sen. John Braun (R-Centralia) speaks during the ceremony marking the completion of the new Chamber Way Bridge in Chehalis.
Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, has introduced a bill intended to “address sanitation and security needs in commercial districts with homeless populations,” according to a news release from his office.
Senate Bill 6196 would make grants available to chambers of commerce or other kinds of business associations to support security and sanitation, according to Braun’s office.
“I’m glad to see the housing situation is more of a bipartisan conversation this year, but the focus on increasing the supply of housing or other shelter doesn’t get at the public-health, public-safety and property-protection concerns that can result when people choose to set up camp or take shelter in and around a downtown core,” said Braun, in a statement.
Area business owner Gene Potter expressed concerns about downtown Centralia’s homeless population at Tuesday night’s Centralia City Council meeting. Potter said he is from Ethel but that he and his wife own several buildings in downtown Centralia that they lease out. He told the council that their tenants are telling him about the homelessness problem and the challenge it is creating for their businesses.
“I realize it’s a huge problem for our state. Locally for us, I noticed that when the Amtrak station had issues with this, ‘no loitering’ signs went up and it seemed to help. I heard from businesses that it got better in that area,” said Potter.
He asked the council if they could put up signage and improve the lighting downtown in order to help out businesses that he said are struggling right now.
Homeless advocate Lisa Striedinger, founder of Friends Without Homes, also addressed the council on the topic of homelssness, coming from a different point of view, saying she was representing community members that are experiencing homelessness.
“Friends Without Homes has been working very hard for two years to educate ourselves with the missing facts of homelessness, the evidence-based strategies that are necessary to help end this housing and homeless crisis,” Striedinger said.
Striedinger told the council that if she would have seen some of the people sleeping in doorways that night that she would know their names and could tell the council their story.
“These are people, these are human beings and we don’t know their story. We can turn our heads and say ‘oh whatever’ but when I find a single mom and her babies in a tent at Stan Hedwall (park) I break my barriers and I bring her home to my house and that’s what it took after two years of living on the street. She is now in safe housing and working toward getting her own home. She was working the whole time,” said Striedinger.
Braun’s bill has been sent to the Senate Housing Stability and Affordability Committee, but will be considered “dead” if it isn’t advanced by Feb. 7.
“Sanitation is vital — discarded needles and human waste on the sidewalk are clearly public-health issues that affect everyone, including businesses,” said Braun, who has asked without success for a public hearing on the measure. “Security is just as important, so businesses have less chance of experiencing property damage or theft, and can provide a welcoming environment to their customers. It’s about maintaining a sense of order on our streets.”
The bill would amend state law to add an “impact grant” available to business groups in counties with an unsheltered homeless population of more than 500, based on their most recent point-in-time survey.
The grants would be paid for through document recording fees at county auditor’s offices, according to the bill, specifically those funding the “home security fund account” under Revised Code of Washington 43.185C.060.
