SPOKANE, Wash. — The Hope House, a women’s shelter in downtown Spokane, will close its doors in July.
The closure comes as Hope House transitions to a 44 bed medical respite facility.
Hope House hosts 100 women a night in its shelter, some of whom have been there for over three years. Now, these women will need to find somewhere else to go.
“Hope House is first really trying to get the long-stayers into permanent housing,” said Bridget Cannon, the senior vice president of program operations at Hope House. “Four have already transitioned and by the end of February, we hope to have 80% of those long-stayers transitioned.”
This transition to permanent housing has been happening since August when the city gave Hope House over $1 million to prevent them from having to close immediately.
Now, other shelters in the area are worried this means there will be one less place for women to go at night.
“This will greatly reduce the number of safe places that women feel safe,” Cannon said.
Women’s Hearth is a daytime shelter just blocks away from Hope House. With Hope House closing, it is already anticipating more women needing its help.
“Hope House is the overnight shelter, and Women’s Hearth is the daytime shelter for the ladies. That is why we are so close, they can walk back and forth. We’re anticipating serving more women,” said Jessica Burke, the development director at Women’s Hearth.
Women’s Hearth says the hard part about finding shelter for women is many don’t feel safe in the co-ed shelters.
“Over 90% of the women that we serve have reported having experienced domestic violence,” Burke said.
Women’s Hearth says it hopes the city will open more women’s shelters because the need is there. In the meantime, staff are asking for blankets and hand warmers for the women it serves.
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