Encampment sweeps and reasonable accommodations

A “Sweep” is when government officials (or agencies hired by the government) forcibly remove an encampment of unhoused people. During a sweep, the officials may remove tents, bedding, belongings, other items and structures from the encampment.

Government officials may:

• require people to move
• cite people with an infraction or ticket for unauthorized camping
• even arrest some people for unauthorized camping.

If you have a disability, you can ask for a reasonable accommodation for more time to move, or for other accommodations you may need because of your disability.

Government officials should offer to store belongings gathered in a sweep, except for: 

• illegal materials
• hazardous materials
• trash

Law enforcement, government officials, and/or the agencies hired by the government could take or destroy your belongings. 

Unfortunately, people’s belongings are sometimes destroyed during and after a sweep. That may be a violation of your constitutional rights against government seizure. 

Yes, you should. Officials must give notice to the encampment residents before a sweep. Usually, notices provide 3 or more days to move out of the encampment. But technically, there is no specific type of notice or specific time frame required- just some kind of notice before the sweep.

Police can arrest you for interfering with their activities if you somehow prevent them from entering the encampment. In many Washington cities, camping on public property is a misdemeanor crime. If you are arrested during a sweep, you have the right to remain silent and the right to ask for an attorney (a public defender).

An Executive Order issued in July 2025, may increase the criminalization of camping and houseless related activities depending on your situation. It is unclear what the impact of this executive order will be for Washington state sweeps. It could increase enforcement related to living in encampments or living out of a vehicle. 

You could be at risk for civil commitment or other detainment if law enforcement or encampment sweep officials believe that you:

• are a danger or risk to yourself or others including causing “public disorder”
• have a serious mental illness
• have a substance abuse disorder or addiction
• can’t care for yourself
• are causing public disorder, risks or danger to yourself or others while camping or living on the streets because you have a serious mental illness or addiction.

If you are committed against your will, get legal help right away. While you are committed, you have specific rights under state law. When you are released, you are supposed to be released from involuntary treatment with clothing assistance and some limited financial help.

If you are forced into a civil commitment for a behavioral health issue in Washington, state laws must be followed. If state law is being followed, you shouldn’t have been committed unless your condition causes you to be “gravely disabled or to present a likelihood of serious harm”. After 5 days, you should have a hearing about your commitment. You have a right to have a lawyer at that hearing even if you can’t afford one. 

Even if you pose a risk to others, state law favors less restrictive alternatives to commitment including long-term outpatient behavioral health care instead of commitment. There should be an evaluation and treatment period for you before you are committed unless you were committed because of “emergency detention.” 

If you are committed because of an emergency detention or otherwise forcibly committed, you can’t be committed for more than 5 days from the day you were accepted (120 hours) but this doesn’t include Saturdays, Sundays or holidays. You are supposed to have a hearing on the commitment petition that would have been filed or be released by the 5^th business day. At the hearing, you should have a lawyer appointed for you. Tell your lawyer and the court if you don’t think it’s the right treatment for you to be detained or committed. The judge can decline to issue an order to detain or commit you. The court can deny the petition to commit you and you will be released. 

• You can be committed for an additional 14 days of “involuntary intensive treatment” if the requirements are followed and the court orders it. Your hearing shouldn’t be delayed unfairly. After the 14 days, you should be released.
• If you are ordered to be committed for more than the additional 14 days, you have a right to a jury trial or a full hearing. You could be ordered into treatment for up to 180 days.
• If you have been committed for 30 days from when the commitment petition was filed (not including extensions),  and there hasn’t been a hearing, you are supposed to be released.

It could help you get ready for a sweep to do the following:

• Move out as much of your property as you can before the sweep
• Label your property with your name and contact information
• Make a list of your property (See the “Property List” form on the brochure)
• Take a photo of the property list and email it to a trusted source or yourself
• Take photos of your property itself and email the them to a trusted source or yourself 

Yes. You can ask government officials (or the agencies they hired) for help with:

• Referrals to available services
• More information about what will happen before, during, and after the sweep
• How your property will be stored and where it will be stored
• How to make sure your property is easily identifiable and labeled for storage
• How to get your property back after the sweep and when you can get it back
• How to notify officials if you have property that needs special handling (like medications that require refrigeration or medical equipment you need)

If you have a disability that affects your ability to move from the encampment or impacts your ability to manage the sweep, you can ask for a Reasonable Accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Yes, you can ask for reasonable accommodations related to your disability. 

An encampment sweep is a service of the local government and so it is covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This means that the government has a responsibility to give you the reasonable accommodations you request. 

You can ask for various reasonable accommodations related to your disability that could help you respond to the sweep. For an accommodation to be reasonable, your requests should be related to your disability. 

Here are some examples:

• More time to move because:
  • You live in a wheelchair
  • You have trouble processing and it takes extra time for you to organize yourself to be able to move your belongings
  • You have limited mobility that will slow down your ability to move in time
• Help with moving your items and/or allowing you someone to help you move
• Changes in the way your things are moved or stored
• Special care for your medical equipment and medication
• Allowing you to keep your items instead of the government storing them
• Allowing you to decline offers to stay in a shelter
• Allowing you to keep your service animal(s)
• Allowing you to stay in a relocation place that is near your doctor, hospital, treatment center, food, family, toilets, or other living essentials
• Other exceptions or changes to how the laws are applied when needed based on your disability, like PTSD friendly interactions that limit yelling or bodily touching

Make your request to the officials who gave you notice about the planned sweep. If you don’t know who to ask, start with the agency or officials that are listed on the notice of the sweep.

Make your requests verbally or in writing, but writing is best because it is easier to prove you made the request. 

Make the request as soon as you can after you receive the notice of the upcoming sweep.

You can also ask for accommodations while the sweep is happening, if you need to. You can handwrite your requests on the fillable brochure that is included with this resource. Your local library may help you with printing copies of the brochure.

You can also find the fillable brochure for making a reasonable accommodation request as a stand-alone file for easier printing using this QR Code:

You should include this type of information in request:

• Your name
• How to contact you (phone, email, location of tent, friend’s phone)
• You don’t have to share your exact medical diagnosis of your disability
• Describe the accommodation(s) you need
• Describe how your disability and the accommodation are connected
• Give a specific date that you need a response by

There are helpful things you can do when you request accommodations verbally or in writing. Be specific in your requests and give examples of the help you need. 

For example:

• Don’t say this: “I need more time to move my camp.”
• Do say this: “I need until December 3rd at 5pm to move my camp.”

Other helpful things you can do:

• Make the request as soon as you know that a sweep is planned
• Keep records of your accommodation request. Keep all emails and writings about the request, names of witnesses who saw you make the request, etc.
• Post your written accommodation request on your tent or other visible place in the encampment. 

Take a photo of your written request and your camp/property and email/text it to yourself or otherwise save it permanently.

• If you made your request verbally, write down notes about the communication:
  • Note the name of the official you made the request to, what you said, and, when you made the request.
  • Note the name of who responded to your request, what they said, and when they responded.
• Keep track of deadlines you set for yourself.

As part of a sweep, you may be offered a shelter bed. You do have to move your camp during an encampment sweep but you don’t have to consent to staying at a shelter. You can say no to being offered shelter.  If the local shelter can’t meet your needs, you can say why the shelter doesn’t work for you when you say no to being moved into a shelter. 

Try to move out of the encampment before a sweep if you can. You should try not to be present at your camp during the sweep. If you are unable to leave during a sweep, you should:

• Not interfere with the sweep, but you can ask for more information about what is going to happen, where your items will be taken and stored, etc.
• Collect your belongings and leave the site, if you can.
• Ask the city for more time if you need it related to a disability.
  • Be specific and exact when you say how much time you need to move.
• Ask the city to store your property instead of destroying it or throwing it away.
• Ask where your property will be stored.
• Ask how long your property will be stored.
• Ask who to contact to retrieve your property. 

If you are arrested during an encampment sweep, you have the right to remain silent and can ask for a lawyer (a public defender). 

After a sweep, you should:

• Go to the place designated as storage to collect your items as soon as you can
• Contact the City if you need more time to pick up your property
• Print extra copies of the fillable reasonable accommodation brochure so you are ready for when the next sweep happens