Homelessness charter amendment could still be on Seattle ballot | News

(The Center Square) – A statute change that would reshape the city of Seattle’s approach to tackling homelessness could still be on the vote in November after the group supporting the measure announced against a lower court ruling To appeal.

Compassion Seattle’s campaign originally said it would not appeal last Friday’s decision due to time constraints, but reversed course on Tuesday.

The group filed an urgent decision with the Washington Court of Appeals, demanding a decision by the end of this week. The court said it would hear the case.

Last week King County Supreme Court Justice Catherine Shaffer removed the amendment from the ballot, saying it was in violation of state law.

“The judge’s decision sparked a surge of support over the weekend from supporters who want us to appeal,” Compassion Seattle said in a statement. “We have decided that we must take this action to represent the interests of tens of thousands of voters who have signed petitions to get this amendment on the ballot.”

Compassion Seattle is asking the appeals court to decide whether or not the issue should be on the ballot and has said that the legality of the change should only be challenged if it is passed.

The appeal has put King County elections in a bind as ballot papers continue to be drafted to be sent out on September 9th or to be put in a designated ballot box.

King County is preparing 400 different types of ballot papers for all constituencies, which are also translated from English into four other languages ​​- Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese.

“The reality is that we needed it on Monday, at that point we’re just looking at how much overtime we’re going to need,” Kendall Hodson, a King County election spokesman, told the Seattle Times. “As with any court decision, we will do our best to comply with the court’s orders.”

If the change is passed, Seattle would have to build 2,000 homes or housing units within a year and rewrite its budget to allocate more money to social services.

In her decision, Shaffer noted that amendments to the statutes are not intended to replace the city council’s power to set budget priorities and set land use policy.

Compassion Seattle, backed by downtown business alliances and real estate companies, has raised more than $ 1 million.