Burien’s Ordinance 827, which regulates homeless individuals’ ability to camp overnight on public property within the city, is being challenged in court by the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness as being “unconstitutional.”
According to the coalition, Ordinance 827 effectively bans homeless individuals from living on any public property at any time. Three unhoused individuals in Burien have joined the lawsuit against Ordinance 827.
“The lawsuit charges the City of Burien with violating the Washington Constitution by adopting a vague and almost incomprehensible ordinance that criminalizes the status of being homeless, inflicts cruel and unusual punishment, and deprives individuals of due process,” the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness wrote in a prepared statement.
