A cold snap is coming to Spokane.
Snow is falling and a chill has already settled in, but with temperatures set to drop into the negatives overnight on Thursday for the first time this winter, service providers and city officials are scrambling to get unhoused people out of the impending cold and into warm, safe spaces — and they’re getting creative with what and where those spaces are.
As we reported in late October, the existing winter homelessness plan under then-Mayor Nadine Woodward was to provide the same services as the winter of 2022-2023: fully use the capacity at TRAC Shelter at nights and direct people to the libraries during the day. That plan was criticized by service providers as inadequate at the time, and left them questioning how the city would fill the hole of as many as 600 people after Camp Hope was disbanded earlier this year.
New Mayor Lisa Brown criticized these plans as inadequate in her campaign and pledged a more robust response if she were to be elected.
Now, with the Brown administration less than two weeks old (she was sworn into office officially on December 27) and her new director of Neighborhoods, Housing and Human Services (NHHS), Dawn Kinder, just approved by the Spokane City Council on Monday, the administration and service providers are scrambling to create enough shelter space to get everyone off the streets during deadly temperatures.
Currently, sheltermespokane.org, is displaying less than 31 low-barrier beds (though 18 of those are just for youth) available across the shelter system. The largest city shelter, TRAC, which has drawn frequent criticism for its inhumane conditions, lack of bathrooms and inaccurate reporting of bed availability, simply displays a question mark for bed availability as of 2 pm.
In a press release Wednesday morning, Brown stated that the NHHS department is working to inventory current bed capacity and availability in the existing shelter system. That includes potentially re-opening the shuttered Cannon Street Shelter.
“If these assessments show the need for even more bed space, the Cannon Street Shelter will open as an emergency shelter during nighttime hours,” the release stated. “On Tuesday, the Spokane Fire Department, Code Enforcement, and Building Services inspected the Cannon Street site. The HVAC and water were turned on, plywood removed from windows and doors, parking lot cleared of nails, electrical repaired, and roof repaired. The facility is prepared to open if needed and the City is working to secure a potential operator and security services.”
Brown’s administration said they will have a full warming shelter plan ready and brief the city council on it during their study session on Thursday at 11 am.
As the Brown administration works to learn the ropes and put life-saving infrastructure in place all at the same time, boots-on-the-ground service providers like Jewels Helping Hands (JHH) have been preparing for a deadly Spokane winter for months. Just in time for the cold snap, JHH plans to roll out a collaboration with the Spokane Homeless Coalition and a few local churches across the city that could potentially shelter up to 100 unhoused people overnight for the rest of the winter.
The group, which call themselves Love Spokane, are turning churches into overnight, referral-based warming shelters that would shelter 20 people a night, each, Julie Garcia, the executive director of JHH told RANGE. Those 20 people would be guaranteed their nightly spot for up to two months, giving them a sense of security and a place to return to, cutting out some of the chaos and uncertainty associated with some emergency shelter options that only open when the temperature drops below a 32 degree threshold.
Right now, three churches spread across the city have been fully trained and are ready to accept 20 people each. Garcia said the organization is hoping to onboard two more churches in time for Thursday’s weather, which would bring the total number of folks sheltered up to 100.
“It's dangerous for anybody to be outside for prolonged periods of time, [even] one or two minutes, and it's unsafe,” Garcia said. “We want to connect people to services. We want them to get housing but on weeks like this, our focus is just keeping people alive.”
While churches are providing the spaces, Garcia’s organization is footing the insurance bill, which requires them to have at least one JHH employee present at each location, and the associated staffing costs. She estimates it will come out to about $126,000 by the end of the two month period, if they get all five churches up and running.
They are also not publishing the churches involved because they don’t want people just showing up. All referrals will run through Jewels Helping Hands.
“We're hoping that at some point the city reaches out and says, ‘Hey, we can help,’ because if not, then we just have to move into fundraising mode,” Garcia said. “We're going to have to raise the money either way. It has to happen.”
While not accounting for whatever costs the churches might incur, $126,000 for 100 people for two months equates to about $630 per person, per month — a relative bargain compared to the $1.5 million Spokane will pay the Salvation Army for the next two months to operate TRAC (this number does not include rent Spokane pays to TRAC’s landlord, Larry Stone, or the cost for Revive to provide services).
The services provided won’t be apples to apples — the churches will not shelter people during the day, lessening JHH’s staffing and food costs — and the per-person cost at TRAC is based on how many people utilize each service, while JHH’s insurance and staffing costs are the same regardless.
Assuming JHH fills its target of 100 beds and TRAC fills either its normal operating capacity of 350 or its flex capacity of 400, though, the $630 per person per month Garcia is estimating will be one-third the cost as the between $1,875 per person and $2,142 per person the city will pay the Salvation Army to operate every month.
Garcia hopes that the community rallies to help support the unhoused community this week.
“Spokane is amazing in times of crisis,” Garcia said. “They've always shown to be compassionate and caring people in our community and this is an emergency time where we do what we have to do to make this work.”
And if there’s an unhoused person in your neighborhood in need of shelter? Call Garcia. She and her team at JHH are prepared to send an outreach worker out to connect folks in need with shelter.
How to help
For those looking to connect unhoused folks with resources or help them find shelter to get out of the cold, the RANGE team has collated a list of resources and contact information.
Jewels Helping Hands
For direct, immediate need in connecting an unhoused person with emergency shelter, Garcia and her team can be reached by phone or email at 509-263-5502 and jewelshelpinghandsspokane@gmail.com.
JHH is also calling for volunteers to help run at the church warming shelters, with the highest need being folks who can volunteer overnight. According to an email sent out by JHH, volunteer duties would include assisting the JHH staff with “keeping and maintaining a quiet, restful space for those who will be staying there, sometimes helping hand out meals or snacks, monitoring restrooms, basic clean up, etc.” Anyone who is interested can sign up to volunteer here.
They are also taking donations of water and hand warmers, which can be dropped off at 1028 W Rosewood, Suite 100 A from 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays, and at 5128 N Jefferson on the weekend, and monetary donations via Paypal, which will be used to purchase necessary items in bulk.
CAT Spokane
Starting on Thursday, January 11, CAT will also be operating an emergency warming shelter at their downtown location. They are asking for donations of items, a full list of which can be found here, and money, which can be donated here.
MAC Movement and CoolSpokane
MAC Movement and CoolSpokane will be doing mutual aid distributions of emergency supplies to folks on the street, and are looking for donations, which can be purchased from their online wishlist here, and volunteers to help with distribution. They prefer to be contacted via social media to coordinate drop-off donations and volunteering.
Libraries
During the daytime hours, Brown’s administration suggests folks in need of warmth utilize the libraries, which have wi-fi access, restrooms, water, interactive play areas and warm space. The libraries are open 9 am - 7 pm Monday through Thursday, 10 am - 5 pm Friday through Saturday and noon - 4 pm on Sunday. Locations and addresses are listed below:
Central - 906 W. Main St.
Shadle Park - 2111 W. Wellesley Ave.
Liberty Park - 402 S. Pittsburg St.
South Hill - 3324 S. Perry St.
Hillyard - 4110 N. Cook St.
Indian Trail - 4909 W. Barnes Rd.
Transportation
The Salvation Army, the operators of the TRAC Shelter, have vans available to meet people where they’re at and connect them with available shelter beds, even if TRAC is full. To request a ride, folks can call 509-280-6860 or 509-280-6894. Additionally, Spokane Transit Authority (STA) is offering free fare to anyone traveling to or from warming centers when the temperature is below 32 degrees. Those 18 and under always ride free on STA (a policy that has been hotly debated by members of the STA Board) by using their Rider’s License Connect Card, student ID or letting the operator know their age while boarding.
