Spokane approves ordinance to improve shelter-neighborhood relations

SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane has approved a new ordinance to address problems between homeless shelters and the neighborhoods where they operate as the city continues opening small shelters across town.

When a homeless shelter moved into the Morning Star Baptist Church, it surprised neighbors.

“The shelter just popped up out of nowhere. There was no warning. There was no let’s talk to the community, the people down around us. None of that,” said Gary Bright, who lives near the shelter.

Since then, Bright says there has been one meeting between neighbors and the shelter provider, but problems continue.

“EMT gets called out a lot. Fire trucks you hear a lot. Police get called a lot,” Bright said. “There’s other things that end up being taken or stolen from the side of the house that should have been perfectly fine and safe.”

Despite the problems, Bright supports the shelter concept.

“I’m for places like this. I’m not for how they’re doing it. They need to do a better job,” he said.

The newly approved measure hopes to make it easier for neighbors like Bright to get problems addressed.

Currently, shelters must enter into Good Neighbor Agreements, contracts that lay out how issues will be addressed. But these agreements only involved the shelter provider and city representatives.

Now, the agreements will give neighborhood councils more of a voice.

City Council Member Paul Dillon said the ordinance creates “a representative that is part of the table that is working through the Good Neighbor Agreement. Making sure they are a point of contact if there are concerns that come up from the neighborhood.”

The measure also changes how encampments near shelters are addressed.

“To make sure that there is expedited outreach, if there is conduct outside of shelter. And so that that would now be, higher priority through the good neighbor agreement,” Dillon said.

For Bright, this change could improve his quality of life.

“It would make it so that I could sit out my front porch and not worry about what’s going on in that camper,” he said.