(The Center Square) – Spokane announced the launch of a homeless navigation center on Friday, two months after the city approved a $3.85 million contract for the project without a finalized location.
Mayor Lisa Brown initially announced her idea for the navigation center in April during her State of the City address. The center will act as a funnel for her new scattered site shelter model that aims to replace Spokane’s congregate shelters, such as the Trent Resource and Assistance Center.
Communications Director Erin Hut told The Center Square in August that the city’s Cannon Street Shelter would likely act as the location as it mimics Brown’s then-proposed navigation center.
“The successful pilot navigation center has shown the power of providing stable support and resources to those in need,” Brown wrote in a news release. “Now, as we move towards making it more permanent, we are not just investing in a program, but in the promise of dignity and stability for our community’s most vulnerable,”
The center’s operator and subcontractor, Empire Health Foundation and Revive Counseling Spokane, also ran the pilot program, serving 39 people living in the 2nd and Division corridor.
Brown helped make the effort possible after she declared an emergency along the corridor, which allowed her to streamline funding. Following the declaration, Spokane entered the state’s Encampment Resolution Program, which allowed it to reopen the Cannon Street Shelter.
According to the news release, 12 people from the test run went to an emergency housing program run by Catholic Charities, 11 to Revive Transitional Housing, seven to sobering services, two to homeless shelters, and three are waiting for permanent placement.
The release did not mention what happened to the other 14 individuals.
“We appreciate the support and resources that the [Dept. of Commerce] and City of Spokane are dedicating to address the housing and opioid crises,” EHF President Zeke Smith wrote in the release. “We call on the community as a whole to find ways to come together and contribute to solutions that move people into housing and recovery.”
The navigation center will continue referring people to other services, acting as the heart of Brown’s scattered site model. The idea is to provide immediate shelter while routing people to mental healthcare, addiction services and housing “through individualized case management.”
When the city sent a Request for Proposals to solicit joint contractors to operate the navigation center, it only got one response: EHF and Revive. The city council approved a one-year $3.85 million contract for the two providers in August before finalizing the location.
The $3.85 million came from the Legislature to prop up Brown’s new model and the center, all in an effort to close Spokane’s largest congregate shelter, TRAC, or the Trent Shelter, by this fall.
The Trent Shelter will close its doors for good on Halloween as Spokane continues to grapple with a housing and opioid crisis. The most recent Point-in-Time Count recorded over 2,000 homeless individuals countywide, a 106% increase since 2016.
“These individuals wanted this opportunity and braved the journey to come off the streets and move towards recovery,” Revive’s Executive Director Layne Pavey wrote in the release. “The opioid epidemic and housing crisis have seemed overwhelming, but as a community, we must not give up on interventions that support health, connectedness and cooperation.”
