12/6/2022
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The Spokesman-Review
GOVERNOR LAUDS CATALYST AS CRUCIAL STEP IN HOUSING
KHQ
KXLY
RangeMedia
The Center Square
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The Spokesman-Review
GOVERNOR LAUDS CATALYST AS CRUCIAL STEP IN HOUSING
By Quinn Welsch
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and state officials heralded the opening of the much anticipated, and at times controversial, hotel-turned-supportive housing project in the West Hills neighborhood on Monday as a crucial step forward for establishing housing for homeless people in Spokane and across the state.
“This is exactly what we need,” Inslee told a group of a few dozen reporters, government employees and social workers at the facility, located at 4301 W. Sunset Blvd. “This Catalyst facility is not a Band-Aid. It is not sweeping people under the rug. It is addressing their permanent longterm problems so that they can be permanently housed, and that is what we need across the state of Washington.”
The facility, which will be run by Catholic Charities, will open on Wednesday and begin to intake new residents on Thursday, said Dawn Kinder, the organization’s chief stabilization officer. Catholic Charities is in the process of accepting referrals from Camp Hope, she said.
Catholic Charities CEO Rob McCann marked the opening as “a day of celebration.”
The Catalyst Project was one of several projects included in the city of Spokane’s application for $24.3 million aimed at relocating some of the people living at Camp Hope, the homeless encampment in the East Central neighborhood that was established on Department of Transportation property one year ago last week. The state awarded $14.8 million in funds for the Catalyst Project.
“There are a lot of frustrations that Camp Hope hasn’t been resolved faster, but this has been really an important step in the right direction and we have funded other steps in the right direction that are going to become obvious in the days ahead,” Commerce Director Lisa Brown said on Monday. There were 433 residents at the camp, according to the Department of Transportation’s most recent count.
“It’s not just about a bed,” Brown said. “It’s about the support that moves and individual that moves an individual from homelessness – sometimes chronic, long-term homelessness – into stability.”
More than just amenities
The former Quality Inn was recently redesigned to fit up to 100 people . Each room includes a bed, TV, fridge, microwave and some other small furniture items.
Inslee praised the building’s emphasis on private rooms, which were available to singles and couples alike.
“It takes not only mental health professionals, but a secure, private place to liveso you can get your feet beneath you,” he said.
A kitchen will provide three meals per day to residents.
The building also includes office spaces on all of its floors for mental health specialists, behavioral health specialists, case workers, “peer support navigators” and other Catholic Charities staff.
“The hardest part in this particular building is not having those community spaces,” Kinder said. “Trying to create little pockets where people can build connections with each other outside of their private rooms has been a push. So we’ve repurposed landings on staircases to try and get there, we’ve repurposed the dining room with large TV so we can do football parties and holiday parties and give people a space to actually engage with one another.”
There are no time constraints for the residents staying in the building, but it is not intended to be a permanent home, according to Catholic Charities.
Some people may leave in 30 days, others may take as long as 130 days, Kinder said.
The facility will begin intake on Thursday morning as new residents are scheduled for a two-hour intake throughout the day, she said. The facility won’t likely be at capacity until the first week of January, she said.
Nonservice-related animals are not allowed at the facility, but Kinder said the facility would not completely rule out other pets.
Safety concerns
Residents are required to commit to a “good neighbor agreement,” which prohibits drug or alcohol use on the property and requires participation in services to help them move forward, according to Catholic Charities own description of the facility.
There are some behavioral expectations around safety at the building. Residents who don’t comply with those expectations will be connected with other resources and removed from the building, Kinder said.
The facility has drawn the ire of some West Hills residents who worry that it will bring criminal activity to the area. About a dozen people stood outside the facility on Monday with signs protesting the governor’s visit. “West Hills is not a Shelter Ghetto,” said one sign carried by a man who was directing comments to the building with a loudspeaker.
Criminal records do not exclude residents from living at the Catalyst Project, but “frequent or recent violent, criminal behaviors” are not considered a “good fit” for the facility, according to Catholic Charities.
McCann said neighbors in the West Hills will have access to a phone number they can call if there is any suspicious activity at the facility and a 24-hour, two-person, on-site security team will respond.
“Security is obviously important for this population because there is a criminal element that preys on the homeless,” McCann said. “They are human traffickers, they are drug dealers, they are criminals.”
The building will use a surveillance system that can filter out residents and nonresidents, he said.
“You can’t get into the property unless you’re a resident,” he said.
While state officials celebrated the opening of the facility, Brown cautioned that the facility is only “one piece of the puzzle” to addressing homelessness in Spokane County.
“The real answer here is that we continue to look for solutions,” she said. “The long-term solution is behavioral (health) and more housing and supportive solutions.”
Inslee affirmed his commitment to investing in homelessness solutions in the coming year.
“You are going to see very significant ambition and an aggressive approach to this statewide,” he said. “I am very hopeful the Legislature will join me in upping our game in this regard, because the existing funding is not adequate to solve this problem. In the upcoming legislative session you are going to see some big asks of the Legislature and the people of state of Washington to tackle this problem.”
The issue will also require lawmakers in Washington to address the “fundamental” housing shortage across Washington, Inslee said. Quinn Welsch can be reached at (509) 459-5469 or by email at quinnw@spokesman.com.
Gov. Jay Inslee speaks at the preview the opening of the new Catalyst Project, a converted hotel which will now be used as emergency supportive housing for people living unsheltered in the Spokane community.
QUINN WELSCH/ THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
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KHQ
Courtesy: Washington State Department of Commerce
SPOKANE, Wash. - Governor Jay Inslee and other Washington state leaders visited the Catalyst Project for a tour and media availability on Monday, ahead of its planned opening later this week, and were met with protestors outside of the gates.
Catholic Charities' newest facility in the West Hills neighborhood has been under construction for several weeks, as crews worked to renovate the former Quality Inn motel on Sunset Blvd. into about 80 transitional housing rooms with space for over 100 residents, mostly from Camp Hope.
Residents will come to the project through referrals from the Empire Health Foundation and their outreach work at the encampment located off of I-90 on land owned by the Washington State Department of Transportation.
The Catalyst Project was funded through the state's Rights of Way Initiative, as part of a proposal from Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward and City Council President Breean Beggs that was submitted to the Washington State Department of Commerce in July.
"To give them a secure, private housing option where they are supported by mental health professionals, where they are provided security, where they can get their feet under them so they can have a permanent housing solution," Governor Inslee said Monday.
Representatives from Catholic Charities took reporters through the hotel, showing what one of the rooms looks like: a bed, a secure lock box, a private bathroom and a new overhead light.
Stairwells and landings were designed to be community space with books and puzzles–Catholic Charities representatives said they wanted to capitalize on all space available in the former hotel.
Crews worked to create a full commercial kitchen in the building that could handle serving around 300 meals a day for residents, and transformed the hotel's gym into office space.
Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington CEO Rob McCann said he sees the project as a step in the right direction towards solving the homelessness crisis in Spokane and across the state.
"When the community and the political will is there, this is solvable," McCann said. "Catalyst is an example of the community will and the political will being there to try and solve the problem, and here we are–60 days later this building is open, and we're going to move people in this week."
Catholic Charities Chief Stabilization Officer Dawn Kinder said they'll have case managers, peer support and mental health specialists on site.
"Each floor in the building has an office for a case coordinator and a certified peer [navigator], they'll be servicing everyone living on that individual floor," Kinder said. "Then our operations teams, behavioral health teams and safety teams will collectively wrap around the building as a whole."
The project has received pushback from neighborhood residents–including Monday ahead of the media availability–who've voiced their concerns about how the project was announced, and security and safety concerns for program residents and neighbors in the area.
Representatives from Catholic Charities acknowledged security concerns from some in the community by saying they will have nine full-time security officers on-site at Catalyst, an AI-enhanced security system surrounding the building and a newly-installed fire suppression system in the building. They say the only people allowed inside will be residents, and behavior and safety rules for those who live there will be enforced.
"It's not only the professionals, but it's the environment that allows people to be more secure, that's why this investment makes sense to get this job done," Governor Inslee said. "I think we have the perfect mix right here."
More secure, said the governor, than their current situation–the more than 400 people living outside at Camp Hope.
State Department of Commerce Director Lisa Brown acknowledged frustrations that Camp Hope hasn't been closed faster.
"But I want to assure people that what we're doing is moving on a path that we think will have the best long term impact for the people themselves experiencing homelessness, but also for the neighborhoods and the community that's negatively affected by people living on the streets," Brown said.
That sentiment was echoed by WSDOT Secretary Roger Millar and Governor Inslee.
"While the work takes time, we know from our experience here in Spokane and elsewhere in the state that the approach does work, and it provides a better chance to end the cycle of homelessness," Millar said.
"We are dedicated to doing better across the state, but to do that we have to recognize that this takes enormous investment, enormous commitment, enormous resolution and we are doing all of those three things at this facility and at others like them across the state," Governor Inslee said.
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KXLY
Posted: December 5, 2022 6:37 PM by Vanessa Perez
Canva
SPOKANE, Wash. — There could be some new changes on the horizon for landlords and renters in Spokane. On Monday night, the Spokane City Council deferred a vote that if passed, would establish a new protection program to January.
Council members said they’re still receiving a lot of feedback and want to use the next few weeks to hear all sides. The program would make adjustments to how landlords do background checks.
The program would also include proactive code enforcement, a requirement for business licenses for landlords, a residential rental property damage mitigation fund, legal services, and anti-retaliation protections.
Supporters say the program would make the rental application process easier for historically excluded communities. It also provides funding to help when people are priced out of current or former rental units.
“We don’t have the amount of housing not even remotely to the need here,” Jackie Dunn said.
Dunn, a mom of two with one still under her household, is on a housing voucher. Dunn says she wants to see a cap on rent.
She says the universal background and credit check could help those having to pay for multiple applications.
“There are fail safes in place for the landlords, and there are tons of hoops to jump through as a resident,” Dunn said.
Landlords can still use their own check but tenants can’t be charged for the application. Kathy Nichols oversees hundred of rental properties, or as she calls them, doors.
“I know the city has a problem with homelessness and I know there are a lot of people finding having a hard place to live, but I think the answer to it is more affordable housing.” River City Management owner Kathy Nichols said.
Nichols says she knows landlords she works with would want to conduct their own screening because she says she’s unaware of what the universal background criteria would be.
Nichols says she renews her business license each year, which she says should be enough.
“That’s the whole complaint for people they can’t afford rents that are out there now but if you start to charge owners a for a business license, which is about $215, I think a year, and then $10 every time they have a vacancy. They’re going to pass that cost off to the renter,” Nichols.
The city’s code enforcement could do routing inspection, and Nichols says her landlords already do inspections each year. She also adds that they follow a set of guidelines and ethics already.
“Go after the habitual offenders that don’t maintain their property. That aren’t providing a good environment for people to live,” Nichols said.
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RangeMedia
Luke Baumgarten
This contradicts listed bed availability of 275 and messaging from city administration that Trent can “flex” even higher to accommodate shelter needs
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For weeks, officials at the city of Spokane have told its citizens, the press and support providers looking to guide unhoused people to shelters that the Trent Resource and Assistance Center (TRAC, commonly called Trent shelter) had occupancy of 275, with the ability to “flex” to meet whatever needs arose as temperatures dropped this winter.
Communications Director Brian Coddington doubled down on that assertion as a snow storm flew in last week and temperatures dropped below the threshold that requires city officials to open extra warming shelters. A 2021 City ordinancestates that in periods when temperatures drop below freezing and shelters reach 90% full or above, the city must open additional warming shelters. “The Salvation Army’s practice is not to turn anyone away,” Coddington wrote in an email to RANGE on Dec. 1.
Now, in an interview with RANGE, Dermott Murphy, Spokane’s Building Official and the person who signed off on the Trent shelter’s Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (embedded below), has told us that Trent has been permitted for 250 occupants and nothing more.
RANGE: From your perspective as a building official, though, [the Trent shelter] should not be “flexing” anywhere over the capacity of 250
Dermott Murphy: Correct
Trent has been advertising a guest capacity of 275 for weeks on the Shelter Me Spokane site — which lists all shelter capacity in the city as a way of helping unhoused people and service providers find available beds.
When we asked Murphy why officials like Coddington, communications manager Kirstin Davis, and city administrator Johnnie Perkins would say that Trent shelter was authorized to “flex” above 250, Murphy replied, “I was unaware of them flexing above it.”
We then asked Murphy what enforcement mechanisms, staffing or inspections the city has in place to ensure anyone, not just the Trent shelter, is abiding by the legal maximum occupancy as determined by Murphy, he said wasn’t sure. “I’m not aware of that,” Murphy replied, “ I wouldn't be able to answer to that.”
Updated Trent shelter certificate of occupancy by RANGE on Scribd
A phone call to Brian Coddington and email to Coddington and Davis were not immediately returned. A phone call to Major Ken Perine of the Salvation Army — which operates Trent shelter — and Cassandra Cram, who runs the shelter day to day, were not returned either. If anyone responds we will update this story.
Last week, Fire Marshal Lance Dahl told us that the city issues all building occupancies and that those numbers are hard and fast.
It’s possible to have different capacities based on the configuration of furniture and other criteria, but that higher capacity should always be documented in an occupancy permit, and have a layout plan for the additional capacity that is reviewed by fire marshals and ultimately approved by Spokane’s building official. Dahl explained the process by using the Davenport Hotel as an example:
“[At] the Davenport Hotel, you've got a ballroom, right? And they might come to us with four different floor plans that we pre-approve ahead of time that allow them to flex that space in four different ways,” Dahl said. Conceivably, those four plans “might have four different occupant load numbers based on how they use that space,” he explained. “Is it all tables and chairs? Is it half dance or half tables and chairs? Is it, is it a show floor where they have booths set up?”
Murphy told us that he has seen no such application for additional capacity based on revised floorplans, and directed us to the Fire Department.
As of Friday, Dahl said he had seen no such application or amended capacity either, and told us to call Murphy.
It’s unclear where the buck stops with Trent’s capacity, a question we asked to Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer. We asked how Trent could be operating above its approved capacity and who in the chain of command might have authorized that if neither Murphy, the building official who signed the temporary certificate of occupancy, or Dahl, the head fire marshall, had.
Schaeffer said he didn’t know. “There is so much ambiguity in the process right now,” the Chief said, “before I make a comment to really understand it a little bit more.” Schaeffer said he would do some research regarding that ambiguity and get back to us.
There is a 2006 ordinance that allows the suspension of building codes in buildings that were not originally built to house people but are reconfigured as emergency housing for “Indigent Persons.” It’s unclear if that law is what the city is using to justify flexing the building capacity beyond the listed capacity determined by the building official, but it was clear from the perspective of the building official that the capacity should be 250 people.
Murphy wrote a memo on September 1 explaining the criteria for the emergency exemptions, and that Trent met them, but still concluded in the occupancy permit he also signed, that the maximum allowable occupancy at this time is 250.
Meanwhile, last week at the Spokane Homeless Coalition meeting, Perine said that the Salvation Army is staffing up to add more capacity at Trent. An order of 350 beds is set to arrive mid-December. “The goal is to be operating about 250, then surging up to 350.”
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The Center Square
Camp Hope in Spokane, considered the state's largest homeless camp on public property, was estimated to have a population of about 650 residents last summer, but WSDOT reports that number is now about 433. Knezovich and other city officials believe the count is much lower, about 250 people, as they prepare to disband the camp due to public health and safety concerns.
(The Center Square) - Washington Gov. Jay Inslee neglected to meet with Spokane Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich and Mayor Nadine Woodward during his tour Monday of a new emergency housing complex in Eastern Washington.
Knezovich had publicly invited Inslee a couple of weeks ago to come to the east side of the state and meet with local officials to discuss closure of a large homeless camp on state land. The sheriff said Inslee came to town Dec. 5 without responding to that invitation.
“The governor didn’t even bother to reach out to me,” Knezovich told The Center Square on Monday afternoon.
Brian Coddington, spokesperson for Mayor Nadine Woodward, said Inslee did not meet with her either.
Inslee's office wasn't immediately available to comment on whom he would meet with on his trip.
Monday's visit by Inslee was the second in as many weeks. On Nov. 22, Washington’s lead official came to Spokane for a football game at Gonzaga University and toured Camp Hope on Washington Department of Transportation property near Interstate 90.
State officials have resisted Knezovich’s plans to disband the camp due to public health and safety concerns. WSDOT and nonprofits providing services to the camp contend it will take weeks, if not months, to get everyone moved.
Knezovich confirmed Monday that relocation plans aren’t going to wait months. He said winter is here and people in the camp need to be in a warm, dry place and not exposed to the elements.
“Tomorrow, we are passing out flyers to residents of the camp to let them know they will be relocated and to provide them with information about available resources and services,” he said.
Knezovich said the timing is right to get people out of the camp, with Catholic Charities Eastern Washington set to open the former Quality Inn in West Hills by the end of the week. The renovated motel will provide transitional housing for about 100 individuals.
In addition, the sheriff said the Trent Resource and Assistance Center opened by the city in August can house 250 people or more if necessary. There are other local shelters available if needed, he said.
“The county will close that camp,” reiterated Knezovich.
Inslee traveled to Spokane to tour what Catholic Charities has dubbed “The Catalyst Project” because the goal of the facility is to help homeless people transform their lives. The renovated facility was scheduled to open Dec. 1, but plumbing issues have kept the doors closed for a few more days.
Inslee was joined on his Dec. 5 tour of the converted motel by Rob McCann, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities, Washington Department of Commerce Director Lisa Brown and Washington Department of Transportation Secretary Roger Millar.
Late last week, Brown announced that another $5 million would be coming to Spokane to help house residents of Camp Hope. In a written statement, she said the funding is the final installment through the state’s Rights of Way Safety Initiative, unless the Legislature provides more money in next year’s session.
The $143 million initiative provided funds for five counties to help relocate people living in state rights of way.
With the final round of funding, Commerce has invested nearly $24 million in relocating people out of Camp Hope. That funding is expected to provide about 326 beds in temporary or permanent housing and support services, according to Brown’s press release on Friday.
About 50 additional beds will be supplied with housing vouchers.
“All of our partners deserve tremendous thanks, especially the service providers who are on the ground working day in and day out to keep people safe and move them to better housing as quickly as possible,” Brown said in a statement.
The latest round of funding includes $1.76 million for housing; $1.3 million for rental assistance; $620,000 for a detox center that is available 22 hours at a time, and $490,000 to keep Hope House, a downtown women’s shelter, in operation.
Also receiving additional funding is the Trent center, which gets another $500,000 to add to a prior award of $2 million.
Diversion, a program to provide a small level of one-time support to get people into housing, will receive $150,000.
Commerce has already dedicated $18.8 million to help with the Camp Hope situation, stated Brown.
Catholic Charities received $14.8 million of that funding to purchase the motel on West Sunset Boulevard and remodel the premises.
In past months, about $3.7 million has been allocated by Commerce for coordination and outreach services, and about $370,000 for an information system to track the local homeless population.
More than 70% of the Commerce funds have been given to projects proposed by Spokane city leaders, according to Brown. The remaining 30% went to projects proposed by the Empire Health Foundation or the Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium.
Although the population of Camp Hope was estimated at about 650 last summer, WSDOT reports the number of residents now at 433. Knezovich and other city officials believe the count is much lower, about 250 people.