In The News - 5/18/2025
The Spokesman Review
EPA pulls Gonzaga’s climate grant aimed at protecting city’s vulnerable
Leaders say cancellation could handicap efforts to save lives
Spokane’s most vulnerable residents will no longer have assistance in preparing for the devastating effects of climate change, if the Trump administration follows through on its intent to rescind nearly $20 million in federal funding.
Citing a change in “administration priorities,” the Environmental Protection Agency notified Gonzaga University on May 2 of the impending cancellation of a $19.9 million grant devoted to climate resiliency in Spokane’s disadvantaged, low-income communities, according to a joint news release from the city of Spokane and the private Jesuit school decrying the move.
The Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment was awarded the Community Change Grant last July as one of 21 climate change-related projects funded by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. It was the university’s single largest grant award in Gonzaga’s nearly 140-year history, and school and city officials say it would have contributed greatly to the region’s adjustment to the ongoing climate crisis.
Hundreds of low-income homes were to be retrofitted with heat pumps and high-quality air filtration systems, five community centers and libraries were going to be bolstered to serve as extreme weather shelters, and several prospective workers were to be trained for jobs in clean energy – all as a result of the funding.
“It always feels hyperbolic to say people’s lives are at stake,” said institute director Brian G. Henning. “But it’s literally true right now.”
Fearing significant consequences to Spokane residents if the EPA follows through, leaders for the city and Gonzaga University are now calling on the agency to change course. They argue the Trump administration’s move lacks legal standing and jeopardizes the public health and safety of the region.
Catholic Charities plans to rehab affordable apartments
A $20 million effort to rehabilitate 158 affordable housing units near Upriver Drive between Avista Corp.’s headquarters and Greene Street has been proposed by Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington.
Jonathan Mallahan, chief housing officer for the nonprofit, said 122 of the units are located in one Spokane apartment complex previously called the El Estero Apartments.
“This type of project is super important because we’re keeping the existing affordable housing already here,” Mallahan said. “These units could have gone a different route.”
Located at 2240 E. North Crescent Ave., the El Estero Apartments is an affordable housing complex that has been managed by Spokane Housing Ventures, a nonprofit housing provider based in Spokane since 2002.
The nonprofit was acquired by Catholic Charities in 2021, as were all of the properties it owned and managed.
“It’s been a great opportunity to bring in their portfolio because they’ve needed some investment – it’s been a difficult time in affordable housing,” Mallahan said. “It’s more cost effective to operate at a bigger scale so we’ve been essentially reinvesting savings into projects which was made possible by this merger.”