Ruling: If you live in a car, it's your home...and not to be towed or excessively ticketed
m.sfgate.com/news/article/Homeless-living-in-cars-RVs-Seattle-San-Francisco-12733075.php
Seattle's methods for handling people living in vehicles could be in for a shakeup.
Seattle residents living in their cars, trucks or RVs, police usually have to follow city parking codes, including a 72-hour limit on parking in one place. But a recent court ruling in favor of a man who lost his home when his truck was towed calls into question city impound rules.
It was enforcement of those rules that triggered the towing and impounding of Steven G. Long's GMC Sierra pickup truck, where he had been living since 2014 when he was evicted because he couldn't make the rent on his apartment, according to a news release from Columbia Legal Services, the organization that represented Long in a lawsuit.
The fees charged by the city for towing and impounding Long's truck were excessive and amounted to a violation of the state Constitution and state homestead laws, a King County Superior Court judge ruled on Friday.
Even if it's only an old pickup truck, the place where a person lives is a home under state law, and holding that home hostage in order to collect a debt is illegal, the judge ruled, according to Ann LoGerfo, one of two Columbia Legal Services attorneys who handled the case on for Long.
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