Washington code advisory group narrows scope for temporary emergency shelters, adopts California appendix as working base

Members of the Washington Building Code Council’s IBC Technical Advisory Group met Dec. 18 to refine guidance on temporary emergency shelters and to decide what the building code should — and should not — regulate. The group agreed to focus the TAG’s work on hard‑sided, panelized sleeping cabins (including so‑called pallet shelters) and similar site‑assembled units, while leaving encampment siting and clustering to land‑use/zoning authorities.

The summary that drove the meeting was simple: clarify which temporary shelters fall under building‑code provisions and which are governed by other laws or by L&I/manufactured‑housing standards. Leila, a strategic adviser in the City of Seattle Human Services Department’s homelessness division, told the TAG that Seattle primarily supports tiny‑house villages and transitional encampments coordinated with the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, and that most recent requests have been for use of empty lots rather than conversions of existing buildings. “We mostly do tiny house villages,” she said, describing HSD’s role as a liaison to permitting staff at the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections.

Speakers cited three practical categories used in prior local…