Burien, WA Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Burien Municipal Code § 9.85.150, titled unlawful public camping and storage, was adopted by Ordinance 864 in 2025. Subsection (2) states the rule in one sentence: it shall be unlawful for any person to camp or store items on public property in Burien at any time. There is no hours window and no designated-area exception.

The City Council opened the section with findings. It found that public property and public access to it are harmed by camping, that camping and storage disrupt pedestrian and vehicular traffic, businesses and governmental functions, that law enforcement estimates show significant increases in crime and calls-for-service in or around encampments, and that allowing camping can result in fewer people seeking and obtaining assistance.

Subsection (3) addresses services. There is no requirement that beds, housing, shelter, or treatment be available, offered, or sought before enforcement. Law enforcement can still make an offer, and a person who accepts it or agrees to camp off of public property cannot be arrested under the section unless they continue to or insist on unlawfully storing items on public property. The city and its contractors are not required to provide services, and the section creates no right to services.

The definitions are broad. Camping means to reside or sleep on public property, with or without huts, lean-tos, tents, temporary shelters, vehicles, or equivalents, or as evidenced by beds, blankets, cots, hammocks, mattresses, sleeping bags, tarpaulins, cooking tools or fire. Public property includes beaches, critical areas, easements, forests, green belts, parks, open spaces, pools, public sidewalks and streets, public schools and their athletic facilities, roads, and parking lots. Storage excludes unoccupied vehicles, including campers, trailers, and recreational vehicles, lawfully parked on a public street right-of-way.

On cleanup, subsection (5) leaves procedure to administrative policy: the King County sheriff deputy serving as Burien's chief of police, subject to the city manager's written approval, is authorized to adopt policies and procedures for implementing the section. Separately, BMC 7.30.110 bars camping in any park area including any park parking lot.