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The City of Seattle
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A resolution relating to persons living in vehicles and establishing the Vehicle Resident Assistance Program; accompanying legislation to provide a structured pathway to shelter.
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Recitals:
The City of Seattle (City) is committed to creating a comprehensive strategy to help people living in their vehicles enter permanent housing.
Today there are no shelters or safe lots available in Seattle that are tailored for people who live in their vehicles, which means that the City does not have any place for people who live in their vehicles to come inside.
The City must provide a safe place that meets the needs of people who live in their vehicles in order to allow them to come inside.
The needs of vehicle residents are different than the needs of people experiencing other types of homelessness. These needs are not being adequately met by the City today, and that has hindered the City’s progress to improve the lives of people living in their vehicles and create pathways to permanent housing.
For some who have fallen on hard times, their vehicle is their last possession after losing housing. Beyond needing different types of assistance such as minor vehicle repairs, fuel, and registering their vehicles, people who live in their vehicles also have the needs of everyone experiencing homelessness, including shelter, clean water, food, warmth or cooling, and a place to use the restroom and shower.
The distinct differences between vehicle residency and other types of homelessness is why solutions to other types of unsheltered homelessness do not directly transfer to addressing vehicle residency.
The City currently has no City team to help people in their vehicles and offers few services specifically designed to assist people who live in their vehicles. It does not directly employ any outreach teams tailored to assist people living in their vehicles, besides the Seattle Public Utilities Pilot Vehicle Team and its RV Wastewater Collection program, which is tasked with removing sewage.
The only outreach resources designed for vehicle residency the City provides is contracted through the Salvation Army and the Vehicle Residency Outreach Program, which is a fiscally-sponsored organization that works out of the University Heights Center and retains around two-thirds of the City’s contracts to address vehicle residency.
The City of Seattle needs to right-size its investment in helping people who live in their vehicles, create a City Vehicle Team, and expand city teams and contracts to better meet the needs of vehicle residents, better regulate motorhomes and travel trailers, and establish clear and accessible pathways for people living in their vehicles to enter shelter and housing.
When people exit shelter storage or a safe lot, they should receive an offer to have their vehicle purchased. The new Shelter Storage program should mirror safe lot policies on how vehicles exiting storage are purchased.
The Vehicle Resident Assistance Program provides new and expanded resources for people living in their vehicles. It expands shelter access with the new Shelter Storage program, funds new safe lots, expands invests more in outreach and support, creates a City team to work with our contracted outreach partners to bring people inside, and these resources are available to anyone no matter the type of vehicle, it also establishes a strategy to ensure people living in motor homes and travel trailers are on a pathway to housing and shelter. It creates a new Vehicle Resident Assistance Permit which allows permit holders to park lived-in motor homes and travel trailers to on City of Seattle streets, so long as they remain engaged with caseworks , follow existing parking and criminal laws, and follow basic rules detailed by the permit. Therefore,
Be it resolved by the City Council of The City of Seattle:
Section 1. The City Council desires to assist people who are living in their vehicles transition into shelter and housing. To achieve this goal, the City Council is considering a package of legislation. The Vehicle Resident Assistance Program includes:
A. Authorizing 2026 appropriations for departments to begin implementing the Vehicle Resident Assistance Program, including but not limited to additional safe lots, shelter storage, and increasing City outreach and contracted outreach to reduce caseloads and assist people living in their vehicle meeting the standards outlined in the Vehicle Resident Assistance Program.
B. Authorizing recreational vehicle storage in the Land Use Code so that vehicle storage can be provided to individuals who are transitioning into shelter or housing as a permitted land use.
C. Authorizing a Vehicle Resident Assistance Permit program that allows the Seattle Department of Transportation, in consultation with the Human Services Department, to allow people living in motor homes and travel trailers to continue parking on city streets while waiting for entry into shelter and housing transition programs.
D. Granting the Facilities and Administrative Services Director increased authority to execute leases to provide for vehicle storage and meet the needs of the Vehicle Resident Assistance Program.
E. Clarifying the definition of junk vehicles in the Traffic Code to assist with enforcement and implementation of the Vehicle Resident Assistance Permit program.
F. Beginning to enforce these programs at the same pace as people’s ability to receive an assistance permit, with full enforcement of the legislation only beginning after adequate time is provided for registration.
G. Removing ecoblocks currently placed on City right-of-way within six months of full implementation of the Vehicle Resident Assistance Program.
Adopted by the City Council and signed in open session in authentication of its adoption on .
President of the City Council
Attested on .
Scheereen Dedman, City Clerk
Seal