Olympia Officially Allows Unofficial Tent City
Olympia’s Unitarian Universalist Congregation is currently hosting Camp Quixote II, an impromptu homeless encampment limited to 30 people. Rather than require the church to seek a permit for the special use, the city is allowing the camp to run its course. The camp is scheduled to break up on May 19th. If the church filed for a permit, the process could end in July. Instead of requiring that set of empty motions, the city will not be charging fines and will be allowed access to the camp for health inspections. The future of the tent city is unknown; no other location has been found.
Tent cities continue to challenge the land-use framework. Since the locations change seasonally and are often found at the last minute, the lengthy permit application process has a hard time catching up with the encampments. Cities should investigate an expedited review process for mobile encampments.
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