The override effort, led by bill sponsor and Councilmember Dan Strauss, garnered only five votes — short of the two-thirds majority required to overturn a mayoral veto. The ordinance, passed last month, would have required RV residents to enroll in a specialized permitting system to retain the right to park for 72 hours on city streets. The system would have only allowed people surveyed in a one-time census to obtain a permit, a provision that advocates said would fail most transient RV residents who lack paperwork.

Wilson, who issued her first veto as mayor, argued the permitting system would be difficult to enforce, legally risky, expensive — costing about $3.5 million over five years — and could push more people into unsheltered homelessness. The city charter required the council to vote on the veto within 30 days.

The outcome was all but certain after Councilmember Rob Saka changed his position last week, saying leadership requires "having the humility and grace to change your mind if new information becomes available." Saka's flip drew a sharp rebuke from Strauss, who called the mayor's veto "a new path" duplicitous. Saka then raised a point of order, accusing Strauss of impugning his motives and character in violation of council decorum rules.

Before the vote, council members spent about an hour relitigating the legislation. Strauss defended his bill, saying "doing nothing is not an option" and comparing advocates' concerns about the permitting system's harmful impacts to complaints middle-class neighbors often raise against new shelter and affordable housing.

"These are the same concerns of complexity, of expense, of potential harmful impacts that I have literally heard about setting up tiny house villages [and] providing medically assisted treatment at shelters," Strauss said.

Other moderates echoed his stance. Councilmember Bob Kettle said neighborhood impacts needed consideration, while Councilmembers Maritza Rivera and Debora Juarez cited drug dealing, sex trafficking, and other crimes in RVs. Juarez, an interim appointee who will be replaced by newly elected progressive Nilu Jenks in two weeks, said the public would see Wilson's veto as "dishonesty, inconsistency, [and] lack of leadership."

The council's three progressives held their ground. Councilmember Dionne Foster called the one-time nature of the permitting system a deal breaker because it would exclude future families who become homeless. Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck thanked advocates for their testimony, and Councilmember Eddie Lin called for unity despite policy disagreements.

Wilson's veto followed fierce opposition from homeless service providers, vehicle residents, and progressive advocates. Alison Eisinger, executive director of the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness, said constituents had sent more than 4,700 emails to council members and the mayor as of Wednesday. About 30 people testified at Wednesday's special meeting, with most speaking against the RV ban.

Chanel Horner, a human rights advocate and former vehicle resident who now lives in a tiny home, took issue with Strauss's comparison of advocates to Republicans. "He tried to compare us to Republicans, and that was unfounded," Horner said. "Republicans are like 'not in my backyard.' We're basically the opposite."

Eisinger also criticized the stigmatizing framing of RV residents as a public safety issue, noting that Strauss's bill went through the public safety committee rather than the human services committee. She said serious crime should be investigated regardless of whether the perpetrator lives in a house or a vehicle.

Despite losing the veto vote, Strauss succeeded in passing most of his broader legislative agenda on RV resident reforms, including four ordinances and one non-binding resolution. Those changes add funding for vehicle resident outreach, authorize city-owned vehicle storage lots, and update the definition of "junk vehicles" to streamline parking enforcement. Strauss's proposal for a working group was incorporated into Wilson's executive order signed last week. An interim report is due in early January, with final recommendations expected by the end of March.

Now that the bill is dead, questions remain about the roughly $800,000 a year set aside for the permitting program. Strauss sponsored a budget provision preventing Wilson from spending that money on other purposes until the working group releases its recommendations, which will require another council vote.

Meanwhile, services and shelter for homeless vehicle residents remain woefully underfunded. After a year and a half without any safe lots in the city, the Low Income Housing Institute is set to open Glassyard Commons in West Seattle later this month, with 72 spots available. The city is setting aside funding for a second safe lot to open next year, which Horner argued should go to a different service provider so homeless people have multiple options.

But even that won't be enough, she said, pointing to the deeper problem: a severe shortage of housing.

"If we just had more housing, we'd have somewhere to move people to," Horner said. "We wouldn't have to be in an RV in the first place."