Erin Hut, Communications Director, ehut@spokanecity.org
Tuesday, July 1, 2025 at 10:16 a.m.
The City of Spokane’s Community, Housing, and Human Services Department (CHHS) has announced its 2026 inclement weather sheltering plan, months ahead of the September 30 deadline.
CHHS is required by Spokane Municipal Code to publish a plan to address emergency weather (warming, cooling, and safe air) shelter needs of unhoused individuals and families for the coming year. This year’s plan allocates $1,000,000 to support inclement weather life safety measures and reflects new heat index activation requirements set by the City Council in July 2025.
Based on funding limitations, the City of Spokane will not provide temporary or pop-up shelter locations as has been done in the past. Instead, based on the success of the 2025 inclement weather plan, the City will again seek expanded capacity in existing programs. This flexible surge capacity is cost-effective, draws upon local partner expertise, and requests the community support the broad needs of inclement sheltering.
In line with the 2026 plan, CHHS has issued a Notice of Funding Availability and is now accepting applications from homeless service providers. The City of Spokane will prioritize providers that can provide more than 10 additional beds during inclement weather, can support transportation needs of clients accessing surge capacity, and have experience with emergency shelter operations. Applications are due by 8:00 p.m. on July 31.
“For the first time ever, we not only have a clear and comprehensive plan in place, we’re also opening applications months ahead of schedule,” Mayor Lisa Brown said. “When I took office, there was no coordinated plan, but we still managed to respond effectively last year. Over the past year and a half, our CHHS department has been doing the much-needed legwork to build out strong, proactive systems so that when the inevitable inclement weather hits, we’re ready.”
“CHHS is grateful to be able to offer this funding and deeply appreciates the strong partnerships with our local service providers. These partners consistently step up to meet the need and support our community when it matters most,” said Dawn Kinder, Director of Neighborhoods, Housing and Human Services.
