The update follows RANGE’s reporting that revealed the shelter was operating above its permitted occupancy.
A temporary permit of occupancy for the Trent shelter was issued Wednesday that allows the facility a maximum capacity of 375 people. That permit, like the one before it, cites a 2006 city law that allows exemptions to some state building codes for buildings that house “indigent persons,” thereby permitting space not designed for human habitation to serve as a shelter.
The expanded capacity follows a story RANGE broke on Monday revealing that the Trent shelter had been advertising a bed count over the legal limits of its existing occupancy permit. On Monday, Dermott Murphy, the Spokane Building Official who signed the initial Sept. 1 occupancy permit and a second dated Nov. 15, confirmed the Trent shelter occupancy was capped at 250 people total, including staff. The shelter has been advertising 275 available beds and has regularly met and sometimes exceeded that capacity, especially as temperatures turned cold and snowy in recent weeks.
Murphy’s statement contradicted weeks of assertions from administration officials and shelter operators that the Trent shelter was allowed to operate above the 250 occupancy limit to meet various demands on the system. This additional flex capacity was the city’s primary response to a 2021 law that requires the city to open additional warming shelter space when temperatures drop below freezing and shelter space in the system is over 90% full.
City director of communications Brian Coddington told us “new layout documents were submitted to reflect an updated design following the change in operator,” but did not specify what date those documents were submitted. The Salvation Army replaced the Guardians Foundation as the shelter operator on October 27, and the Temporary Occupancy Permit dated November 15 shows a maximum capacity of 250.
Last Friday, Fire Marshal Lance Dahl, the top building safety official at Spokane Fire Department, said he had not seen an application for the expanded capacity. On Monday, Murphy, who serves in a similar role to Dahl within Spokane’s building department, told us he had not seen any application either.
Two days after our report came out, a new occupancy of 375 — enough for the planned flex maximum of 350 guests and up to 25 staff — was approved.
