(The Center Square) – The city of Spokane announced the opening of more scattered-site homeless facilities on Tuesday, with one official saying it takes the total bed count up to 155 across the model.
While the announcement lacked many details, it highlighted another step as Mayor Lisa Brown’s new shelter model takes flight. The new beds follow the city opening another facility earlier this month after launching the model over the fall, though it doesn’t encompass the entire response.
Spokane Communications Director Erin Hut told The Center Square that the new additions bring the scattered-site model up to 155 beds. However, that’s in addition to 100 inclement weather beds that the city funds and about 950 others across local nonprofit providers.
“I’ll point out that doesn’t necessarily equate to people served,” Hut told The Center Square. “Several of those spaces are open to couples and families, which can have more than one person per bed.”
The partners joining the scattered-site model include Compassionate Addiction Treatment, or CAT, and Family Promise. The city attempted to relocate CAT over the summer but faced considerable backlash due to a lack of transparency, leading to it dropping the endeavor.
The provider used to operate downtown but recently moved all its operations, including the new scattered site, less than a mile to the east. The new location is less visible, which some prefer, but a lack of information about the siting process raised some eyebrows after the fact.
Spokane also faced backlash over siting the new respite facility earlier this month. Like that 30-bed facility, CAT’s new scattered site will support 20 to 30 beds upon referral. Hut said the location will serve people suffering from substance abuse and behavioral health challenges.
“Providing this opportunity to stay in a stable, supportive environment will allow people to move their primary focus from daily survival,” CAT Executive Director Hallie Burchinal wrote in a Tuesday news release, “[to] empowering them to work on long-term goals as they prepare to transition into housing options as they become available.”
Family Promise has operated scattered sites in the Logan and Chief Garry Park neighborhoods for about five years, though it wasn’t officially a part of the new model until now. Hut said this announcement adds 15 city-funded beds to those locations for homeless families upon referral.
“Family Promise of Spokane has been successfully working within a scattered site model for five years,” Chief Executive Officer Joe Ader wrote in the release. “In 2024, we were able to rehouse 805 people from 235 families. With this additional funding, we can expand our efforts to end the cycle of homelessness by providing unique, customized care to even more families.”
Carl Segerstrom, communications and storytelling manager for Empire Health Foundation, which largely controls the scattered-site model, told The Center Square that “none of the current facilities have a Good Neighbor agreement signed by both the operator and neighborhood council in place.”