Maurice Smith <risingrivermedia@gmail.com> sends in:
On my drive to town this morning, from the Spokane Valley to Huckleberry’s on South Monroe, I spent the time doing some mental editing on what I wanted to write in this email. So many things are going on that deserve attention in the homeless community. Attempts to change the Spokane Municipal Code to include housing status as a protected status (extending civil right protections to the unhoused) on the one hand, and, on the other hand, attempts to expand the Sit & Lie ordinance to all of Spokane (it currently applies only to the downtown core) and to remove the available shelter space requirement for enforcement. You can read more about all that here. And then there are the ethical issues that have been raised regarding the City of Spokane’s shelter funding allocations (which have yet to be approved by City Council). Sigh. Yes, there’s more, but you get the point. Lots going on (include another sigh if it helps).
Our Annual Greek Homeless Tragedy
But as I contemplated the possibility of a Blueberry bagel and some French roast coffee (now you know my addictions, having refused all offers of recovery), it became clear to me that the pressing issue of the day is the upcoming (even regularly scheduled) 2024 performance of our Annual Greek Homeless Tragedy. I created this short video piece back in October of 2020 (yes, during COVID) when the first seasonal snow fell on October the 23rd. So, yes, it’s four years old, and yet it remains acutely relevant four years later. Why? Despite the aspirational verbiage coming out of Spokane City homeless planners (“We’re seeking input from the community on how they might be able to help”) there is no operational plan for winter warming shelters. And with the pending closure of the TRAC shelter and capacity reductions by other shelters due to reduced funding, we are on the cusp of the perfect winter storm of inadequate capacity and no plan for how to keep the recently unsheltered safe in frigid weather.
None of this is new. Back in the winter of 2018-2019 a similar situation involving a lack of adequate shelter beds in cold weather motivated Alfredo Llamedo to create the original Camp Hope on the steps of City Hall. That protest eventually resulted in the City opening three temporary warming centers, one at (drum roll please) the Cannon Street building, operated by the Guardians, another at Salem Lutheran Church, and a third at the old National Furniture Warehouse building operated by the Salvation Army. Bright and early on a Sunday morning, SPD and Code Enforcement swept the original Camp Hope off the sidewalk at City Hall, followed by a light snow. The sweep and the snow motivated me to pen a free-verse poem, “It Snowed Last Night,” embodying my reflections on the events (hang on, it’s coming). We've been here before. Didn't we learn anything?
Fast forward two years to another threatened Law Enforcement sweep of a large homeless camp along the Spokane River (at a place known as Trent & Waterworks). It was winter (December 6, 2021) with no available shelter capacity for the 50-plus residents of the camp. It was, for all practical purposes, the 2021 performance of Our Annual Greek Homeless Tragedy, and I was there to film whatever happened. Thankfully, the sweep was called off and I spent my time walking the camps and filming the location. But the unreasonable threat of a sweep in cold weather, with no place for people to go, was the match that lit the fires that became Camp Hope. I know, because I was there. In the early days of Camp Hope, as I filmed the small but growing Camp, I created a documentary piece titled "It Snowed Last Night" using both the poem I had written three years earlier and footage of the camps at Trent & Waterworks and Camp Hope at 2nd & Ray. I believe sharing it now is important, considering where we have been and where we now find ourselves.
How Far We’ve Come, And How Little Has Changed
The 2024 Point In Time Count revealed that over the previous year since the 2023 Count, unsheltered homelessness fell by 54%. Allow me to be blunt. The dramatic decline in unsheltered homelessness was the direct result of the incredible work done by the staff and service providers who served the camp residents and worked to get them into better housing options. I go into all of this in detail in my book about the camp, A Place To Exist: The True and Untold Story of Camp Hope and Homelessness In Spokane. Progress in meaningfully resolving homelessness - as we demonstrated at Camp Hope - requires planning, outside-the-box thinking, collaboration, and hard work. So, why aren’t we doing this on the annually recurring issue of cold weather warming centers? It's not like no one saw this coming. Why are we less than 30 days away from frost and snow with nothing more than aspirational statements about possible community involvement or potential “surge capacity” at shelters whose budgets have been slashed? Talking aspirationally about scattered site shelters is not a plan. Aspirational talk might have been encouraging six months ago, if it included the formation of a working group of pastors, ministry leaders, service providers and people who could help identify possible locations and begin meaningful conversations. But not in mid-September when winter weather is 30 days away, with no plan in place, and no specific locations identified.
How far we’ve come since the first Camp Hope on the steps of City Hall with Alfredo and his supporters chaining themselves to the doors . . . and yet, how little has changed for the benefit of those experiencing winter homelessness on the streets of our Community. So, go ahead with expanding that Sit & Lie Ordinance so there is nowhere in Spokane for the unsheltered homeless to rest and no shelters from the storm. I’m sure your thoughtfulness will keep them safe and warm when the outside temperature dips into single digits.
Yours for the Shalom of Our Community,
Maurice Smith
509.475.8797
Thank you Maurice for all you do/doing to bring light to our city's plight..