In The News - 3/29/2025

From the Mayor’s Desk

Progress amid funding uncertainty

In my last newsletter, I described much of the work my Administration has done over the last year in regard to our housing and homelessness response. We closed the Trent Resource and Assistance Center, a homeless shelter that the City was throwing money into, with little success to show for it. We, alternatively, opened a navigation center, which is statistically more effective, and began serving the various needs of those living unsheltered in our community through our scattered site model. We have six unique locations online so far, with two more opening soon. We also awarded affordable housing dollars to build new projects that were previously sitting untouched, and we began utilizing dollars from national opioid settlements to invest in behavioral health and substance use disorder programs.

The City of Spokane and local partners continue the tireless work to address homelessness through shelter programs, targeted case management and outreach, as well affordable housing initiatives. But the reality is that the success of many of these programs depends heavily on federal and state funding, which is now facing serious threats.

Proposed budget cuts and policy shifts at the national level put critical resources like housing and eviction prevention services, and emergency assistance at risk. We are seeing terminations of active agreements from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and HUD intends to reduce its workforce by 50 percent, including the vast majority of workers in the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Division.

We also face additional cuts due to the state's budget crisis. Here at the City, we face the reality of nearly $35 million being at risk. Without sustained federal and state support, the progress made locally could stall, leaving our vulnerable neighbors without the help they need.

My take on a regional homeless authority

There has been a lot of discussion over the years about developing a regional authority to address homelessness. Dialogue about this model has resurfaced recently and I want to provide context to why I am not supportive of the idea as it currently stands.

While the latest proposal went dead before I was even elected, I announced early in my term that I wanted time to thoroughly evaluate the proposal. My findings showed the authority would rely on Continuum of Care dollars -- funds that flow through the City -- but there was no commitment of crucial mental health dollars, that flow through the County.

I am also concerned that creating another public development authority would give the City of Spokane only two seats on a 14-member board and would give them control over how to allocate Continuum of Care dollars. In my opinion, this raises serious questions about accountability and oversight. I am also concerned about the proposed makeup of the board. While I believe in utilizing subject matter experts to help inform policy, they should not be responsible for the spending of tax dollars. Financial accountability is crucial and rather than handing over taxpayer dollars to a new entity, I believe that funds should be handled by local governments who are accountable to taxpayers.

Positive outcomes from regional collaboration

While we evaluate what a regional authority might look like in the future, work is being done across municipalities to put critical foundations in place.

Just two weeks ago, the City of Spokane announced a $1.5 million proposal to invest opioid settlement funds into treatment and behavioral health funding – a proposal crafted in partnership with the Spokane County Board of Commissioners, County staff, and City staff. Spokane County has indicated its support to match City of Spokane dollars and increase investments the County already has underway.

Over the past several months, City of Spokane staff have also been working closely with with their counterparts at Spokane County, the City of Spokane Valley, and the Spokane Regional Health District to collect critical data to help us better understand homelessness and the programs that exist to support those who are unhoused.

We launched a new data dashboard in December and are now using that information to inform how we utilize our resources. Our latest report shows that over 7,000 people in Spokane County used a homeless service that offers a bed within the past year. While that number seems daunting, there are signs of progress.

The data shows the number of people who have moved into permanent housing has doubled. Our records also show early support for our move to a scattered site model,which focuses on intensive case management and tailored services based on the people being served. When connected to services like rapid rehousing, we see nearly 70 percent of people move into permanent housing. That is compared to just 7 percent of people who use emergency shelter. LEARN MORE.

KREM

Jewel's Helping Hands is opening its fourth emergency shelter in Spokane next week

The new shelter in the Emerson Garfield neighborhood will serve women only.

Jewel's Helping Hands is opening the Knox Women's Shelter on Tuesday at the Knox Presbyterian Church.

This new shelter fits under the city's scattered site shelter model.

Emerson-Garfield's newest neighbor is hoping to make a difference in the community.

Knox Presbyterian Church's gymnasium will be a women's shelter operated by Jewel's Helping Hands.

It's the non-profit's latest project director of operations Cheryl Brown is grateful to be a part of.

"It will be life-saving for women out there," said Brown. "We are looking forward to being able to serve women in the community because there's a lack of women's beds in the shelter system."

With Hope House closing in June, that's a loss of about 80 beds for women.

Jewel's hopes its new shelter will meet some of that need with 10 beds at first and eventually a total of 30.

"We have a peer navigation team that comes in and like we do a quick assessment about the client's needs, and then we get them set up with case management that will come in and intensely provide them services," said Brown.

The Knox Women's Shelter marks the fourth scattered-site shelter operated by Jewel's Helping Hands. It's an approach the city adopted under Mayor Lisa Brown's administration.

Jewel's says it's already seen some success at its established locations.

"There's so many good outcomes. Almost weekly. I hear about a client getting housed or a client returning home to their family," said Brown.

The Knox location served as a warming center last winter, making it already equipped to welcome clients and make a difference.