Coupeville weighs rules for religious groups to host homeless encampments

Churches and other faith groups in Coupeville could soon have a clearer legal path to shelter people without waiting for a separate nonprofit campus or government-built facility. Under a draft ordinance the Town Council reviewed May 12, qualifying religious organizations could host outdoor encampments, indoor overnight shelters, temporary small-house sites and parking programs for people living in vehicles on property they own or control.

The proposal is meant to match Washington law, which allows religious organizations to host homeless people on their property, including outside buildings, while limiting what cities can demand beyond public health and safety needs. In Coupeville, that means the town could not simply turn away an application that meets the standards. Instead, the applicant would have to sign a memorandum of understanding with the town and the relevant managing agency, and the site would have to meet requirements for sanitation, fire safety and, in some cases, sex-offender background checks for residents.

The draft also puts a hard limit on how long a site can stay in one place. A religious encampment could remain for up to six months in a year, but it would have to be taken down after four consecutive months before being re-established later. The town would also be barred from requiring improvements that would make the housing effectively permanent, a safeguard meant to keep the sites temporary rather than turning them into long-term construction projects.

Neighbors would get a formal warning before any encampment opened. The draft calls for a public meeting before a site begins, giving residents a chance to see what is planned and ask questions about operations, safety and oversight. That matters in a town like Coupeville, where residential neighborhoods, churches and downtown streets sit close together and any new shelter site would be highly visible.

Councilmember Rick Walti raised one of the main concerns, warning that the definition of religious organizations could be too broad and might invite abuse. The ordinance may still be refined before the council acts on it.

The discussion comes as Coupeville responds to state review of its comprehensive plan update, which began in 2024, after the Washington Department of Commerce flagged the need to address supportive and emergency housing. Commerce says Washington’s homelessness response depends on coordinated federal, state and local action, with counties organized into crisis response systems. In Island County, that work is already underway through the Homeless Housing Task Force, which first met June 25, 2025, and includes faith leaders such as Pastor Fannie Dean of Mission Ministries Outreach and Pastor Maria Francisco of Misión Emanuel Whidbey.

For Island County’s 85,657 residents in the 2025 population estimate, the Coupeville code would not solve homelessness on its own. It would, however, decide whether churches can become temporary shelter sites, and under what rules neighbors can expect them to operate.