(The Center Square) — The Spokane City Council on Monday approved Mayor Lisa Brown’s declaration of a city-wide emergency to address the loss of food stamp benefits and enforce a new ban on people living on the streets.
Brown issued her proclamation on Oct. 29, weeks into the federal government shutdown that curtailed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and days after the council bolstered Spokane’s ban on camping. The proclamation aims to ensure there are enough shelter beds and resources as enforcement of the ban increases.
It also allows the mayor to skip the city’s typical contracting process and sign on with nonprofit providers to expand homelessness services while bypassing council approval for the funding. The proclamation includes an estimated $4.2 million cost for protecting residents from being evicted.
Councilman Jonathan Bingle was the only member to vote against it, citing concerns about Brown circumventing the council.
“We have every authority as a council to approve those contracts, set it as an emergency, add it to the agenda and get it done all in the same day, all in the same day, we do it regularly,” Bingle said. “We didn’t have to declare an emergency and allow the mayor to go and just enter into contracts.”
Dawn Kinder, director of the Neighborhood, Housing and Human Services division, told the council in October that expanding services without the emergency declaration could take up to a year.
However, the council passed a separate measure on Monday that allows the mayor to re-enter into several shelter contracts on short notice, bypassing the competitive bidding process for taxpayer-funded projects.
Councilman Michael Cathcart questioned why the council would approve an emergency on the cusp of the shutdown ending. The U.S. Senate approved a deal on Monday, and the U.S. House is expected to follow in the days ahead.
Cathcart voted in favor of guardrails for the emergency declaration, including a Dec. 31 sunset clause, a requirement that $30,000 go toward food relief, that contracts don’t extend past 2026 and that the mayor doesn’t spend more than $500,000 in general fund revenue and $500,000 from its HEART funds, which pays for affordable housing and behavioral health services.
“The government shutdown is going to be over in about three days,” Cathcart said. “(Food stamp) funding is out, and so fundamentally, except for the housing piece, there is no reason for this declaration.”
The council is currently grappling with a $13 million general fund deficit that it must balance by Jan. 1.
Spokane Communications Director Erin Hut previously told The Center Square that the administration already has $1.3 million set aside for the housing and treatment aspects of the emergency. Another $2.9 million for eviction prevention contracts would be reimbursed by the state.
Council President Betsy Wilkerson said that should anything go awry, they can terminate the contracts.
“We have not ceded all of our authority to intervene if necessary, if the case was made, if the services were not being delivered as contracted for, that could end,” she said.
Congress will have to determine how to keep the government open again early next year, she noted. The current legislation only funds it through the end of January.
“We do not know where that will take us in the future,” she said.
