Tolerance for the sleepy homeless

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Joe Copeland

Joe Copeland Jan 12, 2018

Jan 12, 2018

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                <h1>Tolerance for the sleepy homeless</h1>
                <h2><p>Legal, anti-poverty and human rights groups are urging Washington cities and counties to respect the right of the homeless to sleep in public open spaces.  In a letter sent today to prosecutors, police and municipal attorneys, the groups point to a U.S. Department of Justice filing in a Boise</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/joe-copeland-crosscut-com/">Joe Copeland</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Jan 12, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Legal, anti-poverty and human rights groups are urging Washington cities and counties to respect the right of the homeless to sleep in public open spaces.  In a letter sent today to prosecutors, police and municipal attorneys, the groups point to a U.S. Department of Justice filing in a<a href="http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/08/06/3927247/dept-of-justice-weighs-in-on-lawsuit.html?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org"> Boise case</a> over a law blocking the homeless from sleeping or camping in public spaces. The Justice filing says it is cruel and unusual punishment to keep people from sleeping in the open when there are insufficient shelter spaces.</p><p>The senders of the letter include the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, the Homeless Rights Advocacy Project of Seattle University Law School, the National Law Center on Homelessness &amp; Poverty, Real Change and the Seattle Human Rights Commission.</p>
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Legal, anti-poverty and human rights groups are urging Washington cities and counties to respect the right of the homeless to sleep in public open spaces. In a letter sent today to prosecutors, police and municipal attorneys, the groups point to a U.S. Department of Justice filing in a Boise case over a law blocking the homeless from sleeping or camping in public spaces. The Justice filing says it is cruel and unusual punishment to keep people from sleeping in the open when there are insufficient shelter spaces.

The senders of the letter include the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, the Homeless Rights Advocacy Project of Seattle University Law School, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, Real Change and the Seattle Human Rights Commission.

By Joe Copeland

Joe Copeland is the former senior editor&nbsp;for Crosscut, where he has been an editor since 2010. Before that, he was an editorial writer and columnist for the Seattle P-I and editorial page edi