(The Center Square) – The City of Spokane announced on Wednesday that it’s moving a sobering center out of downtown and plans to prop up Mayor Lisa Brown’s scattered site shelter model this fall.
The announcement comes days after rumors floated that Brown was considering a location in Medical Lake for another homeless shelter. She brushed off the drama and clarified her position, prompting the administration to announce the next step in Brown’s stance on addressing homelessness.
Using pandemic relief funding, Spokane plans to move Compassionate Addiction Treatment’s 16-bed sobering center and behavioral health services out of the Division Street corridor.
The move could mitigate the number of homeless individuals near the heart of downtown while splitting the distance between CAT and the Trent Shelter, Spokane’s largest congregate shelter.
“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,” Councilmember Paul Dillon wrote in a news release. “This new location will provide meaningful support to individuals seeking stability and recovery as they take their next steps toward independence.”
Two months ago, Brown declared an emergency along the corridor, which allowed her to streamline funding toward the initiative despite the city’s overwhelming structural deficit.
Following the decision, Spokane entered the state’s Encampment Resolution Program, which helped Spokane reopen its nearby Canon Street Shelter and partner with local providers to operate it.
According to the release, Spokane put 39 individuals along the corridor on a list who then chose to engage with services. Several of them found stable housing after only a month. However, that only scratches the surface with Spokane’s most recent Point-in-Time Count noting more than 2,000 homeless individuals across the county, though that’s only an estimate that could be larger.
“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,” according to the release.
Spokane’s Communication Director Erin Hut said the Canon Street Shelter’s current operations mimic Brown’s proposed Housing Navigation Center, which could act as the heart of her scattered-site model.
Brown wants to close the Trent Shelter sometime this fall, but Hut said there’s no concrete date yet. Instead, she noted that the closure would align with the rollout of the new model, which has a tentative start of sometime in September or October after initially being planned for August.
However, the Trent Shelter’s operating contract expires next month, meaning Spokane might have to invest more money in addition to the millions already spent to keep the shelter open.
Hut said that Cannon Street Shelter is a likely location for Brown’s Housing Navigation Center but that the city is still in contract negotiations. Still, many residents are worried that when the Trent Shelter closes, all those individuals will flock back to downtown.
In addition to Wednesday’s announcement, Spokane’s release said the city would soon award $9 million to nine agencies to prop up 110 affordable/low-income housing units.
“My Administration set ambitious goals to address housing and homelessness, aiming to completely restructure our city’s approach,” Brown wrote in the release on Wednesday. “Today, we are starting to see the benefits of that hard work and how a commitment to collaboration results in innovative solutions.”
