New executive order targets problem RVs in Seattle

If you guys haven't been paying close attention, Seattle City Council moved through five pieces of legislation that they wanted Mayor Wilson to sign off on. She did so on four of those five items today, but in fifth... It was a no-go for the mayor. Late last night, she put out a video online saying that she was not going to be going through with one key piece of legislation, which essentially would have forced people to permit an RV if they were going to be parking it on the side of the road for anything more than two hours. If this were to pass, that would make it easier to tow those vehicles out of the way. Obviously, we have a lot of people that don't have homes that live in RVs in the city, so this has become a contentious issue. Let's jump into what the mayor had to say at a press conference just a short while ago. Okay. Thank you all for joining us here today. I'm going to share a few remarks, and then we'll have a few more speakers, and then we'll be happy to take questions. Addressing homelessness and bringing people inside has always been one of the top priorities of my administration. That commitment is reflected in the proposed budget I transmitted to council in September, which funds my shelter acceleration initiative to stand up nearly 1,000 new units of shelter with services. It is also reflected in the announcement I made two weeks ago to expand the successful streets to housing pilot program to more Seattle neighborhoods by better allocating existing resources. Thousands of people living without housing in our city is a moral and humanitarian crisis. And it also impacts the quality of life for everyone. I believe Seattle residents want solutions that address these impacts and enforce reasonable standards of behavior and use of public space, while also treating people with dignity and care. A part of our homeless population lives in RVs and other large vehicles parked on our city streets. While many are using these vehicles as their only form of shelter until a better option is available. Some RVs create significant impacts on surrounding neighborhoods, including illegal activity, noise, garbage, and junk storage in our public spaces. In extreme cases, RVs are linked with serious public safety and public health concerns. We have a responsibility to address these challenges, both for the people living in vehicles and for the neighbors affected by them. Seattleites deserve safe, dignified housing and clean, safe public spaces. That is why my proposed budget includes $3.5 million for a second new RV safe lot, in addition to Glass Yard Commons, the safe lot and tiny house village that will be opening later this month. Productive engagement with vehicle residents requires having safe space that vehicles can relocate to. I appreciate the work that Council Member Dan Strauss and the City Council have put into the legislative package to help to address these issues. The council and I share many of the same goals. We want to support unsheltered people in every neighborhood in our city to find paths to shelter and housing. We want to ensure that our public space, including our right-of-way, is available to everyone. And we want to address quality of life and public safety challenges associated with RVs and unsheltered homelessness. I share the frustration of residents around this very important issue, and I'm committed to working alongside my colleagues on the Seattle City Council to implement solutions. And I'm pleased to have Council Members Rink and Saka standing here today. I signed four out of the five ordinances in this legislative package. These measures will help people move into shelter by allowing them to store their RVs. For many people, the fear of losing their vehicle is a major barrier to accepting shelter. Some of these bills provide practical solutions that can help people to take that important step. However, as announced yesterday, I vetoed Council Bill 121283, which would create a I'm going to go ahead and update a new RV permit program. Under this proposal, people living in RVs would be required to get permits, accept available shelter, and meet program requirements in order to remain in compliance. Those who are not counted in a one-time census, are unable to get a permit, or fall out of compliance, would be pushed further into instability. This was not an easy decision, and I did not make it lightly. Throughout the legislative process, I expressed strong concerns in my hope that they would be addressed before passage. Since then, I have spent time with city departments to better understand the challenges of implementing the proposed permit program. I considered what it would take to stand up a costly and complex new city bureaucracy in a constrained budget environment. I considered the likelihood that this would, in practice, end up pulling capacity and personnel from other urgent public safety priorities. I learned more about the legal, operational, and safety challenges to dealing with problematic RVs and the ways that this legislation does not address those challenges. I weighed legal risk. As the mayor, it is my responsibility to ensure that our city policies and programs are feasible, are a cost-effective use of public resources, and have a reasonable likelihood of achieving their stated goals. I vetoed this bill because I'm concerned that the permit program outlined in Council Bill 121283 does not meet that threshold. And I wanted to give the Council an opportunity to consider an alternative pathway. If the Council sustains my veto, I commit to tackling our RV challenges from both ends in collaboration. On the one hand, we will smooth the path for homeless RV residents to access safe lots, shelter, and services. And on the other, we will focus on identifying the barriers to addressing the most problematic RVs on our city streets and overcoming them. So today, I'm issuing an executive order that will, on the one hand, strengthen outreach and support services for people living in RVs. We will prioritize resources for service providers and our unified care team to help connect vehicle residents to RV safe lots, shelter options, and supportive services. And I'm directing our Human Services Department to immediately deploy 2026 funding for the successful operation of Glassyard Commons, which is expected to open later this month, and funding for engagement with individuals residing in vehicles in Seattle. These resources will support intensive outreach efforts that will connect people living in vehicles with safe lots, work to provide RV storage options, and services that can help them move towards stable housing. We will create a citywide by name list to better understand who needs services and how we can connect them to support. We will identify barriers that prevent people from accessing housing and services. And we will better understand how vehicles are being used, including those not being used as residences. And I think this is an important point. I was actually on Soundside yesterday afternoon, and there was a caller who said that he lives in a house and he owns an RV, which is usually parked in his driveway. But he's very, very concerned about not being allowed to park this RV on a city street for more than two hours. So I think it's important to recognize that, well. Many RVs are occupied by people who are otherwise homeless. We also have traveling workers such as nurses who may be residing in RVs. We have veterans who may be trying to access services at the VA. And we have simply visitors to our city. Second, this executive order will bring together city departments and community partners to improve the way that we respond to neighborhood impacts and public safety issues involving RVs. So I'll be convening a working group that includes representatives from our city budget office, our human services department, Seattle Police Department, Seattle Department of Transportation, Department of Finance and Administrative Services, Seattle Public Utilities, and community organizations that work directly with people living in RVs. This group will incorporate feedback from people living in vehicles and our outreach providers and identify ways to improve our existing programs and services. It will evaluate how current laws and enforcement efforts are working and where they are insufficient and need improvement. We will consider additional service options including RV storage and other support programs and we will review how the city addresses criminal activity associated with the goal of more effectively curbing problematic behavior. All right, so that is Mayor Katie Wilson speaking just a short while ago about her plans with RV ordinances here in the city of Seattle.