Erin Hut, Communications Director, 509.625.6740
Wednesday, August 7, 2024 at 1:44 p.m.
The City of Spokane is making progress on several key initiatives to address housing and homelessness within city limits. Several comprehensive actions the Brown Administration committed to earlier this year are now being successfully implemented and showing promising signs of success.
Right-of-Way Encampment Resolution Program
Earlier this year, Mayor Lisa Brown announced the City of Spokane’s agreement with the Washington Department of Transportation and Washington Department of Commerce to designate the Division/Browne corridor from Sprague to I-90 as a priority encampment zone under the state’s Right-of-Way Encampment Resolution Program (ROW ERP).
For the past several months, work was completed in the corridor to identify people experiencing homelessness who were eligible for services. Thirty-nine people were put on a by-name list and all 39 have chosen to engage in services at the Cannon Street Encampment Mitigation Center. With the support of the Empire Health Foundation, Revive Counseling Spokane, and additional service providers and community partners, people are being connected to resources for substance use and mental health treatment, as well as housing.
After one month of operations at the Cannon site, several people have already exited into stable housing. Four people have settled at the Catholic Charities Catalyst Project, five are in transitional housing, and one person has been independently housed with a voucher.
The City is now working with state contractors and the Spokane Police Department to develop and implement a monitoring strategy to identify people in the corridor who are breaking the law.
Moving services off the Division Corridor
The City has entered a formal agreement with licensed behavioral health provider Compassionate Addiction Treatment (CAT) to move their sobering center and behavioral health services off the Division Street corridor. With the help of American Rescue Plan funds, CAT will move their operations to a facility at 1819 E. Springfield Ave.
CAT maintains 16 sobering beds, as well as services for up to 45 behavioral health patients. The new facility will be better suited for their trauma-informed approach to serving vulnerable populations, will have enhanced security, and will only be accessible to those engaged in CAT’s services.
“I’m thankful to the Mayor’s Office and CAT for working collaboratively on this transition and offering real solutions to the challenges we face,” said Spokane City Councilmember Paul Dillon, Chair of the Public Safety and Community Health Committee. “This new location will provide meaningful support to individuals seeking stability and recovery as they take their next steps toward independence. It is the humane thing to do and CAT has the expertise to achieve results– hope truly is at the heart of their work.”
Moving away from congregate shelters to a scattered site model
The City of Spokane is also quickly moving toward its goal of shifting from a congregate to a scattered site shelter model.
This model includes a Housing Navigation Center that is anticipated to be up and running by September or October. This would be a service-enriched, entry-point shelter for high needs adults experiencing homelessness. This center will provide on-site coordination and operations, providers for addressing health needs, housing-focused individualized and holistic supportive services, and a limited-stay overnight shelter capacity for approximately 30 people. People utilizing the navigation center will be referred to appropriate, longer-stay placement options like transitional housing or scattered-site shelters.
The City recently wrapped up its request for proposals process to identify scattered site shelters and will soon award that funding to bring facilities online.
Meantime, the City is on track to decommission the Trent Resource and Assistance Center shelter this fall.
Increasing affordable housing supply
In May, the City of Spokane issued a request for proposals for projects that increase and/or preserve supply of affordable and low-income housing. The City will soon award $9 million, generated in part from House Bill 1590, to nine agencies to build new or rehabilitate 110 units.
These projects include a variety of new construction projects, including four-plexes, multi-family homes, and single-family homes for low-income families.
“My Administration set ambitious goals to address housing and homelessness, aiming to completely restructure our city’s approach. Today, we are starting to see the benefits of that hard work and how a commitment to collaboration results in innovative solutions,” Mayor Brown said.
