Homeless advocates are suing the city of Seattle in federal district court today for the right to stage a 24-hour sleep-in in downtown Seattle's Westlake Park. A group known as Occupy the Committee to End Homelessness in King County plans to stage an overnight sleep-in on April 24 as part of a political demonstration to highlight a growing need for emergency shelter space in King County.

The demonstration is scheduled to coincide with the April 25 quarterly meeting of the Committee to End Homelessness in King County.

"The broad purpose of the demonstration is to put pressure on [the committee] to do more on emergency survival options for homeless people," explains Tim Harris, executive director of the one-dollar homeless advocacy newspaper Real Change. "The number of people sleeping on the streets has risen by 17 percent since the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness [began in 2005], yet we haven't seen an acknowledgment of that need for more emergency shelter services."

The emergency injunction (.pdf) was filed after Christopher Williams, director of the city's parks department, denied the group's request for an overnight camping permit for Westlake Park. Williams is named as co-defendant in the suit for his "inconsistent permitting practices."

The city attorney's office declined to comment on the lawsuit pending the outcome of the hearing.

Harris continues, "There's a forced choice between long-term housing and meeting people's emergency housing needs, that's not a choice we want to be forced into making."

Homeless advocacy groups Share/WHEEL, Nickelsville, and Real Change are all named as plaintiffs in the suit, which states, "Plaintiffs intend to use the event as opportunity to educate and mobilize Seattle’s homeless population for participation in advancing homelessness as a political issue... Plaintiffs intend to protest the Defendants and their ongoing effort to criminalize and marginalize the homeless population. Defendants have engaged in a concerted effort over the past fifteen years to 'sanitize' the downtown business core around Westlake Park for the comfort of shoppers and tourists by pushing homeless populations to south downtown through a number tactics, including the now infamous 'panhandling' ordinance... backed by the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA), the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau, The Monorail, Starbucks, The Mariners, and a host of other downtown interests."

The parties are expected to appear before Judge Richard Jones in Federal District Court for the Western District of Washington today at 1:30 pm. "Our argument is that tents are free speech, particularly in the context of political demonstration on homelessness," Harris says.

If Judge Jones denies their request, demonstrators plan to camp in sleeping bags on the public sidewalk in front of Nordstrom. "It's well established that you can sleep on a sidewalk in downtown Seattle," says Harris, "so we'll be in sleeping bags on sidewalks in front of Nordstrom, starting at noon tomorrow." Demonstrators be leafleting throughout the day tomorrow, hosting a rally on homelessness at 5:30 pm, and then marching Wednesday morning at 8:00 am to City Hall to attend the homeless committee's quarterly meeting.