Lisa Gardner, City Council Communications Director, 509.625.6226
Tuesday, January 11, 2022 at 1:54 p.m.
Spokane City Council will hold a special Study Session on Thursday, January 13th to discuss the closing of the City’s emergency warming center and the next steps in a citywide approach to adequate warming centers for Spokane’s houseless population.
“Once again the needs of our most vulnerable in the community are not being met,” says Finance Chair and Councilwoman Betsy Wilkerson. “This challenge requires the whole community to be engaged and supportive. As Finance Chair I am committed to supporting the administration in having sufficient shelter beds.”
Councilwoman Lori Kinnear added by stating, “In response to at least two mayors not preparing for an adequate homeless shelter in freezing weather, Spokane City Council has enacted several ordinance provisions that would have mitigated the current situation we find ourselves in of having insufficient shelter beds to serve the houseless in the current frigid temperatures, and those ordinances need to be followed.”
Council members will request members from the administration to join Thursday’s Study Session to discuss solutions to address the current emergency warming situation and rapidly house the City’s homeless.
The study session will be held on Thursday, January 13, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. and is open for public viewing via live stream on Spokane’s CityCable5 https://my.spokanecity.org/citycable5/live/ or via Spokane City Council’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/spokanecitycouncil
