Another Letter Sent to Bremerton Mayor
NWH Director, Anton Preisinger, composed the following letter and sent it Mayor Wheeler of Bremerton, WA, on 9/7/2023, in response to the 9/6/2023 City Council Meeting. Ordinance No. 5482 to update BMC Chapter 9.32 entitled “Unauthorized Camping” was discussed at the meeting.
Dear Mayor Wheeler,
Thank you very much for your response and for taking the time to read my email. I could not attend the meeting last night, but based on the reports I've had back and examining the packet assembled after the meeting, the letter you provided clearly demonstrates that you are not taking the needs of our unhoused neighbors into account anywhere near as much as they deserve. Placing all the emphasis on enforcement is a strange way to respect "the rights of our unhoused community members." Discussing how people will act "even when there is another place to go or shelter space available" is laughable - we haven't seen those circumstances in years, and I haven't seen any legitimate progress toward those ends. Not to mention that your assertion that people will refuse to move is based entirely on data (I'm being overly optimistic there) and anecdotes collected during a long period when there have not been appropriate alternatives for people to accept. Furthermore, how can you possibly think that "a period of no enforcement" is the cause behind our current homelessness issues? We have the numbers on all of this and the causes are clear- lack of enforcement isn't even on the list. If you actually "want voluntary compliance," then give people a real option! Forcing people to move away from their community - even if that community is unhealthy - is not a choice most people will make. Forcing people to move away from work (yes, many of them work...somehow I get the feeling that you still require this basic education) is not a choice most people can make. Give people a variety of options in a variety of locations, and you will have voluntary compliance.
It is also evident that you need to be bluntly reminded that IT IS NOT ILLEGAL TO BE HOMELESS! In fact, it is illegal for you to persecute people for being homeless. Far from enforcing the laws of the city, as you so callously put it in your reply to my first email, you are pushing policies that intentionally circumvent established constitutional law.
This joke of an ordinance being discussed applies perfectly and specifically to housed residents of the community who set up their tents on the side of the road for recreation - and I support it wholeheartedly in that one single application because that's the only way it makes any sense. Our unhoused are not camping; they are surviving and existing. They need help, services, support, and encouragement, not more politicians pushing them around and further obscuring the path to recovery and success as you and the city seem hell-bent on doing.
I would much rather work alongside you toward solutions, but you make that impossible by even suggesting giving people misdemeanors and fines for not complying with a half-cocked ordinance that is bound to fail our unhoused community members on so many levels. Your claims of support appear to be entirely disingenuous, and I strongly feel that you owe the community an apology for your approach to this problem. That apology should include some quality time in the field with people who are enduring the policies you and the council are putting in place as well as many discussions with people who actually know what they're talking about in regards to outreach, mutual aid, and supporting our unhoused neighbors. All of that should be followed by a complete overhaul of Bremerton's homelessness response plan, assuming the city has anything separate from the county plan, because whatever the city thinks it's doing is not working.
Anton Preisinger
Founding Executive Director
Northwest Hospitality
888-222-5240
www.nwhospitality.org