(The Center Square) – The Spokane City Council is scrambling to retroactively extend several contracts for the mayor’s scattered-site shelters after the agreements expired during a transition to a new operator.
Mayor Lisa Brown launched the scattered-site model shortly after taking office to offer a more humane alternative to large congregate shelters. Several scattered-site shelters opened around the city, taking hundreds of congregate beds offline while only providing around 200 replacements over the past year.
The council initially picked Waters Meets Foundation to operate the model after a request for proposals only turned up one application. In doing so, it granted WMF the authority to sign contracts with the funding tied to the model, but the nonprofit left the picture last month, with the city regaining control.
The Community, Housing and Human Services Department had months to prepare, but CHHS Director Arielle Anderson told the council on Monday that city staff thought they could absorb the agreements.
“There was some initial misunderstanding … when CHHS had corresponded with procurement and with legal as to our ability to simply absorb those contracts,” she said. “We were not on the same page.”
Purchasing & Contracts Director Jason Nechanicky told the council that before entering into contracts, the city must go through a competitive bidding process or have exemptions allowing them to skip the RFP.
CHHS failed to issue an RFP, so Nechanicky said the administration is requesting an exemption though a tool called “special market conditions.” State law allows Spokane to bypass the competitive bidding process under certain conditions, which he said are vague but allow for emergencies such as this.
The last time Spokane used this tool was in selecting a company to analyze how much it would cost the city to comply with the Climate Commitment Act. Nechanicky said Spokane rarely uses special market conditions to secure exemptions, adding that legal is using these cases as an experiment.
“CarbonQuest was imposed upon us by the state. We didn’t have a whole lot of options there, so it’s slightly different. Whereas this is, as you put it, self-inflicted,” Councilmember Michael Cathcart pushed back. “I would strongly urge … that we revise this code, because it seems pretty ripe for misuse.”
Council President Betsy Wilkerson expressed similar concerns and frustrations over CHHS waiting to take care of these contracts until after the fact. Nechanicky said if the city didn’t extend the contracts using special market conditions, the council would have to suspend the shelters until after an RFP.
That would mean taking another few hundred beds offline for weeks to months just before winter. The city closed its largest congregate shelter last Halloween, drawing criticism from the community due to the cold months ahead. Now, the officials are hoping to avoid another crisis as temperatures drop.
Anderson proposed a three-month extension, which would begin retroactively on Oct. 1 and expire on Dec. 31. If approved, it would keep 209 beds available at shelters operated by Truth Ministries, Family Promise of Spokane, Compassionate Addiction Treatment and Jules Helping Hands. She noted that an RFP for future scattered-site contracts from Jan. 1, 2026, thorugh June 30, 2027, closed on Sunday.
The extension costs $1 million, funded through state grants, which will also support future contracts.
“Frustrated because again, self-inflicted. We knew this was coming, and so that really kind of cuts us off at the knees [for] special market conditions,” Wilkerson said. “We’ll be voting yes on it… but this one really has presented its own unique challenges as to timing special market conditions and how we go forward.”
The council will vote over the proposed extension and funding attached next month.
