12/1/2022
####################################################
RangeMedia
The Spokesman-Review
CONFUSION, FRUSTRATION AFTER OFFICERS PAY VISIT TO CAMP HOPE
Shawn Vestal: Our Homeless Crisis is much larger than Camp Hope
KREM
####################################################
RangeMedia
Carl Segerstrom
Officers from Spokane Police Department, Spokane County Sheriffs Department and Spokane Valley Police Department showed up at Camp Hope to issue notices of removal on December 6, 2022. (Photo by Ben Tobin)
Camp leaders and state officials say the move was disruptive. Some of the information provided by police was incorrect and misleading.
Just before 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, around 15-20 local law enforcement agents from Spokane Police Department, Spokane County Sheriff’s Department, and Spokane Valley Police Department (a contracted subset of the Sheriff’s Department), entered Camp Hope to hand out fliers directing people to resources and letting them know the camp would be closed.
The atmosphere at the gate to the encampment was tense as police cars gathered a couple blocks away. Service providers and camp staff alerted camp residents that police were coming and urged them to stay in their tents, be calm and not engage with law enforcement. The only indication that law enforcement would be visiting the camp was a quote from Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich in an article by RaeLynn Ricarte in The Center Square published on Monday.
Before they entered the camp, deputies told providers including Julie Garcia, the founder of Jewels Helping Hands (JHH), the main service provider at the camp, that the purpose of the operation was not enforcement but simply to share information about services. The gates to the encampment weren’t opened for law enforcement until Garcia said she got approval from Washington State Department of Transportation, which owns the land, to allow law enforcement on-site.
The information that police handed out — a flier that stated that the camp will be closed, provided resource listings and advised people to seek services at the Trent shelter — contained out-of-date information, and advised people to seek services and shelter at a facility whose listed capacity exceeds its legally permitted capacity, and which has been turning people away during this current cold snap.
Spokane Building Official says Trent shelter is not authorized for more than 250 people
Garcia said she would have appreciated having more time to prepare residents and keep them calm. “Really, the key to all this is if [the police] talk to us about coming in and touring and bringing things that’s ok with us,” she said. “We just have to be able to explain what’s happening to the folks that are scared.”
“This show of force is totally unnecessary and was meant to elicit a fear response which we are not going to let happen,” said a camp resident who goes by Suka. “We have that information and the information on the pamphlets was inaccurate at best.”
The pamphlet listed an outdated address for Compassionate Addiction Treatment. The current occupants of that building are the Healing Rooms, a conservative Christian organization that also sublets its space to On Fire Ministries, the church Matt Shea founded in 2021 after leaving the Washington State Legislature.
The notice and resource list that law enforcement handed out next to a white board with resources that has been at Camp Hope for months. (Photo by Carl Segerstrom)
The pamphlet also listed a phone number for sobering services through Spokane Treatment and Recovery Services (STARS) that does not work. STARS has not offered sobering services since September 2021, is not currently offering sobering services and has no plans to begin offering them again at this time, according to interim executive director Joe St. John. STARS does offer withdrawal management services for people experiencing withdrawals from chemical dependency. The Inlander’s Samantha Wohlfeil reported on the reduction in sobering services across the Spokane community over a year ago.
A far more comprehensive and up-to-date list of services has been posted on a whiteboard in the large tent adjacent to Camp Hope the camp for months.
For the most part, residents heeded the advice not to engage with law enforcement. There was no indication that anyone living at the camp came into conflict with police as they handed out fliers. As police fanned out through the encampment, knocking on tents and RVs, camp staff, peer navigators, state employees and eventually additional journalists documented the interactions.
The tensest moments came as law enforcement and service providers gathered after officers were done handing out information throughout the camp. Service providers, including Garcia and JHH staff member Sharyl Brown, raised concerns that the resources being advertised by the flier weren’t regularly available or were insufficient.
“I’m telling you, I call most of these places on a daily basis, they’re not open, they have no openings,” said an exasperated Brown.
Sheriff’s deputy Josh Pratt, who works on Spokane Valley’s homeless outreach team, countered that the Trent shelter was open. The most recent availability at the shelter, posted last night, said that the shelter had 16 beds available and 275 beds total.
“They’ve turned me down. Last week they turned me down,” said Brown, who works with residents to get them connected to services including the Trent shelter and the Catalyst Project, the 100+ person supportive housing facility opening this week with funding from the state’s Rights-of-Way Initiative.
The legal capacity of the Trent shelter has been murky at best. The city administration has repeatedly told RANGE that no one will be turned away by the Salvation Army at Trent and that the shelter has an undefined “flex capacity.” In a meeting of service providers last week, Salvation Army’s Ken Perine said the nonprofit has purchased additional beds and that the shelter is staffing up to accommodate 350 people. Yesterday, Dermott Murphy, the Spokane Building Official who issued the building occupancy certificate for the shelter, told RANGE that the current occupancy limit is 250 people and that occupancy should not be going above that number. He also said the shelter could apply for a larger capacity, but that no such application had been filed to his knowledge.
Shelter staff and people staying at Trent have told RANGE that the shelter has reached and exceeded the advertised capacity of 275 people and turned people away. “We try to get them somewhere else, we do our best,” said one Trent staff member whose identity RANGE is protecting because they could lose their livelihood for speaking to the media. “They can say [we won’t turn people away] all they want, but yes, we have to turn people away. We don’t necessarily know where they go.”
Last Friday, a shelter resident sent RANGE the following picture from the facility.
At Camp Hope, resident reactions ranged from shrugs to frustration to general antipathy towards law enforcement.
“I don’t fuck with the police, man,” said a camp resident who gave the name David. “Nobody’s talking to them, man. We have no reason to. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
After officers had left, Suka questioned the timing of the law enforcement action. “Most of us already have a housing option, we’re just waiting for it to open and waiting for us to be placed,” said Suka, who will soon be moving into the Catalyst Project at the former Quality Inn in the West Hills. “Very excited, all kinds of good stuff going on,” she said about moving on from the encampment.
Staff from the Commerce Department and Washington State Department of Transportation, who witnessed the police engagement at the camp, said it was counterproductive. “We take one step forward and two steps back,” said WSDOT spokesman Ryan Overton. “Yesterday was an exciting day with Catalyst and how far we’ve come with the Department of Commerce, Empire Health Foundation and all of our partners, Catholic Charities included. All this is doing is distracting, riling up the campers. It’s disappointing.”
“There could have been a conversation about how to do that engagement,” said Tedd Kelleher, the managing director of the housing assistance unit at the state Department of Commerce, who came from having lunch to witness the police action. “They know our number, they know everyone else’s number, we talk to the city almost every day. It’s ridiculous. Of course it raises everyone’s anxiety, especially the people living here.”
Officers from Spokane Police Department, Spokane County Sheriffs Department and Spokane Valley Police Department showed up at Camp Hope to issue notices of removal on December 6, 2022. (Photos by Ben Tobin)
Jeffry Finer, the lawyer for the groups and residents suing the city and county for their response to Camp Hope, said that having that many officers on site to deliver pamphlets could portend a heavy-handed sweep of the encampment. “If this is how the sheriff delivers a letter, you can imagine how he’d conduct a sweep,” Finer said.
None of the deputies on site approached by RANGE were authorized to speak with the media. An email to the Spokane Sheriff’s Department public information officer Mark Gregory has not been answered.
City communications director Brian Coddington told RANGE in an emailed statement: “Members of the Behavioral Health Units at the Spokane Police Department and the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office conducted outreach and engagement to provide information about resources available in the community to those staying at the camp. The teams regularly provide information about resources to community members as part of their duties. Transportation was also available for anyone who needed a ride to access services. Unfortunately, no one took them up on the offer.”
Councilwoman Karen Stratton said the whole effort was a waste of resources. “We can’t get officers in our neighborhoods to respond to crime, but they can get these numbers to go into Camp Hope with so many people with so many needs — that’s wrong.”
“I’ve never felt threatened there. I’ve played with their dogs. I’ve passed out clothes that I brought down,” Stratton said. “This is not about public safety, this is about egos and that makes me really angry.”
❤️
"I love reading Range because you guys hit the issues hard and follow up with stories like no other outlet in this area. Your care for the Spokane community bleeds through every article." - Bianca C.
Join RANGE and members like Bianca on our mission to empower our community starting at $10/month here.
####################################################
The Spokesman-Review
CONFUSION, FRUSTRATION AFTER OFFICERS PAY VISIT TO CAMP HOPE
By Emry Dinman
“This camp is to be closed.”
This was the message on flyers handed to Camp Hope residents by uniformed law enforcement officers from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Spokane and Spokane Valley police departments, who arrived in force Tuesday afternoon.
More than a dozen officers and deputies with the interdepartmental Behavioral Health Unit arrived at the homeless encampment Tuesday afternoon, and some at the camp estimated the number was as high as 40. Spokespeople for local law enforcement and the city of Spokane were unable to provide an exact number Tuesday.
Local law enforcement and city officials say the exercise was meant to remind those living at the camp that a closure is coming, though they won’t say when, as well as to connect residents with shelter and social services.
Organizations providing on-the-ground services at the camp, however, called the law enforcement action an unhelpful attempt to intimidate residents amid bitter disputes about how to close the camp.
“It’s all about intimidation,” said Julie Garcia, founder of nonprofit homeless service provider Jewels Helping Hands, shortly after officers and deputies had left. “Otherwise, why do you need more than 20 officers dressed in their gear with their body cams on?”
Spokane Police Department spokesperson Julie Humphreys said all of the officers were needed in order to safely reach all 433 people staying at the camp.
Garcia and residents of Camp Hope argued the same goal could have been accomplished with a pile of flyers left with staff to distribute.
“I think they were here for more than just handing out flyers – if they wanted to hand out flyers, they could have dropped them off at the front,” said Mark Miller, who has lived at Camp Hope for nearly a year.
“I think they’re trying to get a layout of the camp, and the police are – because (the flyer) says the camp is closing – trying to scare people into leaving.”
Xavier Allen, a resident and staff member at the camp, said he thought the law enforcement action was little more than a show of force.
Humphries, however, said Tuesday’s operation was necessary to ensure that Camp Hope residents received information directly from law enforcement.
“We wanted to go and have that connection with folks,” Humphries said. “It was more about: We are here as a resource for you.”
Law enforcement were not immediately able to access the interior of the gated camp, said Mark Gregory, public information officer for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
“Why would they stop us from going in and talking to people today?” he asked. “We hope in the future that the staff at the camp, Jewels, whoever, works with us instead of against us.”
Garcia stated that she had to confer first with the Washington State Department of Transportation, which owns the land that Camp Hope is located on, before allowing law enforcement inside. She also said she was given no official warning that law enforcement would be coming Tuesday, except for a brief mention of possible action made by Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich in a story published Monday by The Center Square.
In addition to an unspecific statement about the camp’s impending closure, flyers produced by the sheriff’s office and distributed Tuesday listed a number of service providers in the community, including shelters, mental health and addiction treatment centers, and those offering free meals.
While some of the resources provided might be helpful, Garcia argued there were a number of issues with this list. Even as law enforcement were leaving the camp, a large number of the flyers had already been tossed in trash cans.
Most of the service providers named in the flyer were already listed in a large Conestoga hut at the camp where residents receive meals and services.
The flyer also contained information that was incorrect or irrelevant to campers, she added. For instance, one service provider listed only offers services to teens, though those staying at the camp are all adults.
The address listed on the flyer for Compassionate Addiction Treatment, a peer-led day program for addiction recovery, was incorrect. While CAT is located at 168 S. Division St., the address provided was 112 E. First Ave., which is where Matt Shea’s church On Fire Ministries is located.
Neither Humphries, Coddington, nor Gregory were able to explain the error prior by Tuesday night. The flyer stated that shelter services and housing alternatives were available, and prominently featured the Trent Resource and Assistance Center.
However, according to sheltermespokane. org, there were only 16 of 275 beds available at TRAC as of Monday night, and around 150 beds throughout the entire regional shelter system.
“There are nowhere near that many beds available at the Trent Shelter or in all regional shelters combined,” wrote Zeke Smith, president of Empire Health Foundation, the organization contracted by the state to coordinate outreach services at Camp Hope.
“If the city, county, and local law enforcement are genuinely interested in helping Camp Hope residents access critical services, they are welcome to pick up the phone and call those of us who are actively working to accomplish this each and every day.”
City officials have maintained that TRAC will not turn away anyone in need and has the capacity to flex capacity at that shelter to fit 350 or more. However, in a story published by Range Media Monday, Spokane building officials stated that the shelter was already in excess of an official capacity limit of 250.
There aren’t enough shelter beds to house the residents of Camp Hope, let alone all homeless residents of Spokane County, which was estimated to be around 1,750 people during the 2022 Point-In-Time count.
But the number of homeless residents may be far, far higher. In a recent estimate from the Washington State Department of Commerce based on services provided to homeless people, Spokane County has more than 14,000 residents who are unhoused – around 2.5% of all residents.
Law enforcement did not provide residents of Camp Hope with a specific date that they would be expected to leave the site, an intentional decision, Gregory said.
“We’re never going to say when we’re going to – if we had to – go down and close the camp, because that wouldn’t be smart of us to do,” Gregory said.
“The camp is going to be closed, but we want to do it without ever using law enforcement to move people out of the camp,” he continued. “(A sweep) is not our goal, but if we have to, we will do that.
Though a handful of Spokane police officers have been a constant presence outside of Camp Hope, they will soon be regularly joined by Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies, Gregory added.
Jeffrey Finer, one of the attorneys representing three Camp Hope residents and Jewels Helping Hands in a federal complaint filed in October after local law enforcement threatened to sweep the camp, argues a sweep would be illegal under federal case law. After Tuesday’s operation, he said he had requested a new hearing date in that case, which seeks an injunction to prevent such a sweep.
“It’s clear that the sheriff has no intention of allowing the camp to close humanely and safely and legally,” Finer said. “We will ask the federal court to intervene and order the sheriff to stand down.” Emry Dinman can be reached at (509) 459-5472 or by email at emryd@ spokesman. com.
Lonnie Goin, on left, and his father, Lonnie Goin Sr., were given flyers handed to Camp Hope residents Tuesday by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and the Spokane Police Department stating the homeless camp is closing.
COLIN MULVANY/ THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Shawn Vestal: Our homeless crisis is much larger than Camp Hope
There is a perverse political advantage for our local leadership in the Camp Hope crisis.
It is helping divert attention from the fact that homelessness is burgeoning out of control beyond the confines of that encampment, as well.
In a sense, turning the issue of Camp Hope – or the Catalyst Project – into a viper’s nest of accusations, threats, NIMBYism and empty posturing has a distinct upside for those who have mostly slept through this emergency. If the whole argument can be turned into something about several hundred people in a camp – or a hundred people receiving supportive housing – it obscures the actual scope of the problem.
Because our homeless population is not several hundred people at Camp Hope.
Nor is it the 1,700 or so people who were counted in the annual Point-in-Time count of street homeless and shelters earlier this year.
It is – according to a new, more thorough measurement employed by the state – more than 14,000.
Fourteen thousand, two hundred and forty-two, to be exact.
That’s the number of people in Spokane County who received some form of public assistance and were categorized as homeless for any period of time during January, according to the new Snapshot of Homelessness in Washington State from the Department of Commerce.
Is that what you would have guessed?
More than 14,000 human beings unhoused in this county?
It’s stunning. And yet people who work with the homeless aren’t shocked by it.
“The Snapshot report is the most comprehensive data source we have to identify the homelessness and unstably housed population in Washington,” said Emily Burgess, the managing director for the data and performance unit of the DOC housing division.
The department has done snapshots regularly since 2014, but it changed its methods last year to capture a wider range of data sources. Using information in various systems for public assistance and social services, the project looked for homelessness “flags” in the records of more than 2.6 million Washingtonians.
Statewide, it identified more than 141,000 homeless people, including 4,632 newly homeless, during January. Another 30,000 or so were considered “unstably housed” (that figure was 2,664 in Spokane County.)
The numbers were a large jump from previous years, chiefly because of the change in methodology, Burgess said.
“We feel it’s more accurate, although it is a significant increase,” she said. “I don’t think it was surprising to our communities” dealing with homelessness.
In this community, our discussion of the issue lately has been almost entirely focused on the Camp Hope crisis and the political conflict surrounding it. If the camp forced the problem into the community’s consciousness more forcefully than before, it also may have left a misleadingly singular image of the problem in the public mind.
The debates about the camp – as well as those about the Trent shelter and the promising Catalyst project – focus on figures in the hundreds. The folks overseeing the $25 million state effort to clear the camp, which is making steady progress in the face of continual obstruction from local elected officials and a raging storm of NIMBYism, said there were 433 people living there last week.
The Woodward administration believes there are fewer people there, and one of the points of contention has been its efforts to get a list of all the camp residents; it seems, in combination with the numbers game around the “flex” capacity at the Trent shelter, part of an effort to reach the point of claiming there are sufficient beds available in order to sweep the camp.
But there’s nothing anywhere in our system – nothing on the ground now, nothing planned and nothing even being discussed – that would establish anything like a system built to address a problem 32 times larger than Camp Hope.
The new Snapshot is not a census – not a single, perfect measurement of the size of our homeless population, a large part of which lives in a conditional, ever-changing state on the edge.
It compasses the size of the problem in January. It showed that the largest category among the county’s homeless population is single adults over age 25, at more than 9,400.
But more than 3,500 people with children were included, both single parents and two-parent households.
Also, unsurprisingly, the survey revealed starkly higher homelessness among people of color.
Native Americans comprised 16% of the county’s homeless population, African Americans made up 12% and Hispanic/Latino people accounted for 10%.
While it includes the chronically homeless street population, it also captures many other unhoused people who are less noticeable on the sidewalks: living with friends and relatives, sleeping in cars and cheap motel rooms, doubling up and tripling up with others.
And here’s something truly sobering: For as large as it is, the latest figure doesn’t include homeless people who are not in the public-assistance system in some fashion.
“It still could be an undercount,” Burgess said. “It likely is.”
Shawn Vestal can be reached at (509) 459-5431 or at shawnv@spokesman.com.
SHAWN VESTAL
SPOKESMAN COLUMNIST
####################################################
KREM
Commerce awarded $330,000 through its Right of Way Initiative to support the Hope House for the next six months.
30-car pileup closes eastbound I-90 east of Ellensburg
SPOKANE, Wash. — The Washington Department of Commerce awarded funding that will keep the Hope House women's shelter downtown Spokane open longer than recently expected.
Last month, Volunteers of America announced it would be closing the Hope House at the end of January due to lack of funding. That meant a loss of 100 shelter beds in the middle of winter. But now, additional funding awarded from the state will allow it to stay open at least through the winter months.
Commerce just awarded its final Right of Way Initiative funding to the city of Spokane and non-profits. That includes $330,000 that will support the Hope House for the next six months. The department has also committed to $490k for a year to secure eight respite beds for women exiting Camp Hope.
Fawn Schott, VOA President and CEO is relieved they will be able to continue serving women at least through June 30th next year with this funding.
"It's very exciting, we're very grateful. Commerce has been such incredible partners with us over the years," Schott said. "I think the most exciting thing is that we're not at risk of closing the doors when it's 20 degrees outside, and these women really have nowhere else to go."
VOA has also applied for $1.5 million funding to cover its annual operations as a 24/7 women shelter through the competitive request for proposal process (RFP) with the City of Spokane. It's currently waiting to hear if that request has been granted.
In the past year, Hope House provided emergency shelter and housing services to over 600 women. VOA said Hope House also helped 18% of those women transition into stable and permanent housing.