Erin Hut, Communications Director, ehut@spokanecity.org
Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 2:46 p.m.
New street outreach teams, launched by the City of Spokane in partnership with Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington, have made significant progress within their first week and a half of operation.
The outreach teams visited all sites related to active cases within 12 days. While the majority of sites did not have people living there, the outreach teams cleared 96 encampments, with the majority of people accepting connection to behavioral health or housing services, including the navigation center.
“These outreach teams are an essential piece of our plan, and I am pleased to see the early success of their work,” Mayor Brown said. “This is a great example of the partnership needed to make sustainable change. The key to long-term success will be continually improving coordination and communication between providers, social workers, medical professionals, and law enforcement.”
“We are encouraged by the early progress that our outreach teams have made in connecting our most vulnerable neighbors with housing and services,” said Jonathan Mallahan, President of Catholic Charities Housing Ventures. “Because of these efforts, there are fewer people who are forced to sleep, eat, and exist outdoors.”
The new coordinated street outreach teams are located in all four of the Spokane Police Department’s precincts, including downtown.
Early next week, Spokane 311 will launch their new outreach reporting feature. Members of the public who see people in need of assistance will be able to dial 311 or go to www.spokane311.org to file a report, and prompt near real-time dispatch of the outreach teams.
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