Brian Coddington, Communications Director, 509.625.6740
Wednesday, September 20, 2023 at 2:11 p.m.
City staff are working with SNAP and other local providers to cover relocation assistance costs for the tenants displaced by the order closing an unsanitary and unsafe apartment building after a year-long effort to work with the owner to get conditions corrected.
Payments have been processed by SNAP for 20 tenants of the apartment building at 225 S. Wall who have begun picking up their checks. SNAP staff is working with three other tenants to complete documentation.
“City staff have worked extremely hard and in close partnership with SNAP to meet the obligations of the landlord to provide relocation assistance,” Mayor Nadine Woodward said. “Their first and continuing obligation is to the health and safety of the tenants who were living in those conditions.”
Relocation assistance work began in late August between City staff and SNAP when a Do Not Occupy order became a possibility. Code Enforcement and Spokane Fire inspection staff worked with the building owner to get numerous code and fire violations and unsanitary conditions corrected before determining with the City Building Official this month that emergency action had to be taken to protect public health and safety.
Relocation assistance provided to displaced tenants shall be the greater amount of $2,000 per unit or three times the monthly rent, according to RCW 59.18.085. Relocation assistance is the responsibility of the building owner, according to state law.
City staff has documented 21 total occupied units. Another dozen or so units were unoccupied.
Numerous unsanitary and unsafe conditions have been documented over the past year. Those include infestations of bed bugs, roaches, and mice throughout the building, plumbing deficiencies and leaks, water damage, inadequate hot water, damaged heating units, lack of ventilation, evidence of unpermitted work, missing windows in multiple units, waste accumulation, drug paraphernalia, and numerous fire code violations that include lack of smoke detectors and fire exit doors screwed shut. Despite efforts from City staff, the occupants remained in an unsafe building leading to the “Do Not Occupy” order being issued.
Staff developed materials, communicated extensively with tenants, worked with SNAP to cover relocation assistance required of the building owner by state law, and coordinated with other providers to have services onsite when the order was enforced.
Notice of the impending order was posted at the building on September 5. Notices were also sent to property ownership and all known parties related to the parties on September 1 and staff were in contact with tenants. Tenants have also engaged with their own housing service providers and many have engaged with SNAP for assistance.
Lifting the order requires submission of a full plan and documentation for resolution of the substandard conditions. Separately, the building has entered into a court-supervised receivership process.
