The adage, ‘Politics make strange bedfellows’ played out over Zoom last week as a high-profile panel debated the Compassion Seattle charter amendment to mandate housing and services to 2,000 homeless citizens in its first year.  Opposing it were a prominent homelessness advocate and a former City Attorney.  Advocating were a public defender/homelessness expert and the head of the Downtown Seattle Association. 

All four used the amendment text to fortify their opposing arguments, speaking to the amendment’s imprecise language that will fall to the next Mayor and City Council for interpretation.

Lisa Daugaard, public defender, social service innovator and MacArthur “genius grant” recipient acknowledged the amendment was “not idiotproof” but thinks it’s a step in the right direction and favors acting now.

Tiffani McCoy, Advocacy Director of Real Change said the amendment will codify encampment sweeps and is another thinly veiled attempt by big business to meddle in Seattle politics. She noted the legislation’s massive increase in drug and mental health services doesn’t include a funding source and these services aren’t currently available to scale. McCoy added that many businesses supporting the amendment have also challenged Seattle’s JumpStart tax intended to fund support for the homeless.

Mark Sidran, former City Attorney, also opposes the amendment but for very different reasons. He warned that its inexact language contains loopholes and unintended consequences including possible changes to the criminal and land use codes. If passed he predicts legal challenges that will allow courts to determine how it’s implemented.

Jon Scholes, president of the Downtown Seattle Association echoed Daugaard’s call for action and said the amendment’s bottom line offers something lacking in previous efforts: metrics and tangible goals.

To that point, Charter Amendment 29 would be embedded in the City’s constitution and not easily modified.  It would oblige leaders to prioritize public funds or raise new funds to meet its mandate.

Perhaps that’s needed to see results. No mayoral candidate stands out with a new approach to this intractable issue.

After six years of stagnation, we’ll soon find how many voters are willing to overlook the amendment’s shortcomings and take a leap of faith.

For a complete look at Seattle’s homelessness issue and a recording of Belltown United’s CA 29 debate, click here.