SPOKANE, Wash. — A few weeks after the City of Spokane shut down the TRAC shelter with over 200 beds, people are expressing mixed reactions to the new scattered shelter system.
The city’s scattered shelter model is built around a housing navigation center, currently operating out the the Cannon Street Shelter.
The center is focused on providing immediate shelter to unhoused individuals while also connecting people with the resources they need.
“We are excited about the direction we are heading in. We know that to make an impact on homelessness we have to do things differently. This is our first attempt at saying, ‘Let’s try something new,’ and this is our first outcome of this,” said Dawn Kinder, Neighborhood Housing and Human Services Director.
The navigation center has 30 beds and hopes to send people to different shelter sites, but some are worried about if it can meet the need as the winter weather approaches.
“I do support this model, I just really think we need to ramp this up. I am not seeing a state of emergency type of situation and we know that freezing temperatures are coming soon,” said Anwar Peace from Spokane Human Rights Commission.
As of now, the city has three scattered shelter sites operating, with plans to open more. It also has an inclement weather plan in place which allows more extreme weather beds at five different locations across the city.
Empire Health Foundation, an organization aimed at dismantling health inequities in the Inland Northwest, is operating the navigation center.
“We haven’t had anybody that is really paying attention to what we are doing across this whole system and because of that, there hasn’t been the level of coordination that is required, nor have we had enough information about where there are gaps in our system,” said Zeke Smith, President of The Empire Health Foundation.
Spokane City Councilmember, Michael Cathcart said he is concerned about the scattered shelter model’s transparency with the neighborhoods they will be in and the overall lack of regional oversight.
“Now we are in this sort of hybrid, go-along version, which I just don’t think is working. it is essentially just a 30-bed shelter, and that is not a navigation center,” he said.
The city said this model is part of a long-term plan aimed at wholistically addressing the homeless crisis in Spokane.
“We feel really confident about the long-term direction of where things are headed, and we know we are headed towards a direction that has better outcomes,” said Kinder.
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