12/8/2022
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The Spokesman-Review
Sue Lani Madsen - West Hills neighbors feel bypassed again
Yakima Herald - Audit: Homeless in Yakima County need more investment in housing
KREM
KXLY
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The Spokesman-Review
Sue Lani Madsen - West Hills neighbors feel bypassed again
It looks like any other small town bisected by a highway, then bypassed by a freeway. A couple of aging early motoring era motels. An old gas station. A church, a few commercial structures but even more vacant lots where buildings have been torn down.
Ask an old-timer and they’ll tell you about the days when there was a real grocery store, pharmacies, a florist, an elementary school and one of the finest restaurants in Spokane with a panoramic view over the city below. A time when the West Hills neighborhood had a business district.
The decline started when Interstate 90 planners neglected to provide a promised offramp to access West Hills businesses, according to members of the West Hills Neighborhood Council.
Tourist traffic to the motels dried up; low weekly and monthly rates became the norm. Whittier School closed in the 1960s and was torn down in the 1970s. Businesses gradually disappeared.
The Sunset Bridge connecting most of the West Hills neighborhood to the city is literally falling apart. Two lanes are closed. A sidewalk was barricaded after a chunk of railing fell into Hangman Creek.
“WSDOT spent $59 million on three roundabouts at the Geiger overpass but can’t find funds to fix the bridge,” said William Hagy, West Hills Neighborhood Council president.
He’s also concerned SPOKESMAN COLUMNIST about the Rosamond Avenue and Lindeke Street bridges across I-90. Hagy made the “WSDOT FIX OUR BRIDGES” sign for the neighborhood council’s protest outside the building converted to house the new Catalyst Housing program.
The protest coincided with Gov. Jay Inslee’s RSVP-only news conference at Catholic Charities’ latest acquisition. The Catalyst, formerly known as the Quality Inn, was originally the acclaimed Spokane House.
Mayor Nadine Woodward wasn’t even invited. A governor traveling more than 260 miles to tour a key program in his plan to address the largest WSDOT right-of-way homeless encampment in Washington for 2022 and bypassing the mayor of the second-largest city in his state can only be described as political petulance or poor planning.
Hanging out with the protesters was a catalyst to learning why the West Hills Neighborhood feels bypassed in planning their own future.
“They label us as NIMBYs because we’re opposing the Catalyst, but we’re opposing it on a number of levels,” Hagy said.
Their concern starts with the compression of social services into a single neighborhood, which Hagy describes as a violation of Growth Management Act principles and the city’s comprehensive plan. With Catalyst this year and the new Agnes Haven slated for 2023, the West Hills neighborhood will have five major Catholic Charities properties and more than 10 locations operating as low-barrier, transitional or permanent supportive housing.
“The community is very well aware of what’s happened downtown,” said Hagy, referring to the expanded operations in the area surrounding the House of Charity. “It breaks my heart.
They have good intentions, but it just doesn’t work out.”
The Catalyst project is located just west of Finch Arboretum, which Hagy describes as a “historical gem” where he spent much of his childhood. More caution is advisable these days.
Neighbors say illegal camping has become a problem, and they don’t want to see it get worse.
Jonathan Mallahan of Catholic Charities confirmed they have negotiated a temporary easement with Spokane Parks and Recreation to complete the perimeter fence along the arboretum. He described extensive security precautions and staffing planned to identify and regulate guests in the facility, but that doesn’t allay the fears of neighbors who have seen how drug dealers have followed their potential clients to nearby low-budget motel housing. Predators always move with their prey.
The Catalyst being operated as a program rather than under Washington’s landlord-tenant laws might be the best protection for the neighborhood. Mallahan said Catholic Charities will carefully screen for motivated guests and expects to evict anyone who violates the terms of the good neighbor agreement. Landlords, even nonprofit landlords, will tell you evicting someone with a lease in the name of protecting the safety of other tenants and neighbors is extremely difficult.
Neighbors see West Hills as a logical place for a vibrant near-downtown urban neighborhood, the next Kendall Yards.
But since two major nonprofits in Catholic Charities and Empire Health Foundation have bought up chunks of property, the momentum for private projects has stalled.
“We’re losing an estimated $100 million worth of new development because they don’t want to be anywhere near Catholic Charities properties,” Hagy said.
“Private developers have tabled plans for more housing, mixed housing and retail, a restaurant and a three-story office building.”
Being bisected and bypassed was a tough blow. It’s the lost opportunities to revitalize the West Hills as a full-service neighborhood that really sting.
Contact Sue Lani Madsen at rulingpen@gmail.com.
Audit: Homeless in Yakima County need more investment in housing
By Kate Smith
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC (as reprinted in the Spokesman-Review)
Yakima County’s homeless program spent more than $13 million on contracted homeless services from 2019 to 2021 but invested less than 1% of resources into permanent housing, according to a new report by the Washington State Auditor’s Office.
The report, which also reviewed homeless programs in Seattle, Spokane and Snohomish County, recommended local governments adopt a more data-driven approach to distributing funding and better monitor service providers.
Esther Magasis, director of the Yakima County Department of Human Services, said Yakima County’s review period was more truncated compared to that of the other communities included in the audit.
The county began managing Yakima’s homeless program in 2019, so the report reviewed the program from that point on, while other jurisdictions had a full five-year review from 2017 to 2021. Yakima Valley Conference of Governments administered the program prior to 2019.
Yakima County’s review period was also affected by the newness of the Human Services department – established in January 2020 – along with staffing challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic, Magasis said.
Since then, the department has hired an accountant and managers to supervise the homeless program.
“The period that’s being audited looks really different (from) the program now, even though it was such a recent time that they looked at,” Magasis said. Still, she said the results of the review were helpful as the county looks at ways to evaluate and improve its efforts.
Permanent housing
Yakima County put less than 1% annually toward permanent housing from 2019 to 2021, though experts recommend investing in permanent housing, according to the report.
The county planned to spend more on permanent housing, the report said, but two providers applied to offer the service and only one of them, Yakima Neighborhood Health Services, qualified to receive funding. The report said the department hadn’t determined why so few providers applied but thought it may be because there are fewer providers overall in the region.
Magasis said Yakima County’s funds were only divided into two categories for the audit – supportive services and permanent housing – while other communities separated their funds into a variety of categories. The graph for Yakima’s program would look more varied if it were broken out into different categories, she said.
“When you look at that supportive services line, that supportive services line encompasses every other program that is not permanent supportive housing,” she said. “Just like for the other communities that have it in their graphs, that means emergency shelter, that means rapid rehousing, and that means transitional housing, that means all the other services that we provide.”
The report looked at services including coordinated entry, outreach, permanent housing, supportive services such as counseling or resume writing, and shelters for youth and young adults.
Splitting supportive services into more specific categories would not affect the line that shows the amount spent for permanent supportive housing – less than 1% throughout the review period.
Magasis said the county doesn’t put a lot toward permanent supportive housing in the community, in part because of grant restrictions and limits on local funding.
Lee Murdock, director of the Homeless Network of Yakima County, said the report shows that the county’s program should focus on prevention and creating housing units, instead of just emergency response.
“There needs to be more investment in both prevention and rapid rehousing, whether it’s permanent supportive housing or new housing units,” Murdock said. “People are spending a long time in shelters because there’s nowhere for them to be transitioned into.”
Murdock said Next Step Housing, which operates the Bicycle Apartments and other supportive housing developments throughout Yakima, is one of the county’s largest permanent supportive housing providers, followed by Neighborhood Health.
Limiting funds
Magasis said funding restrictions contributed to Yakima County’s lower investment into permanent housing compared to supportive services like emergency shelter in its early years of managing the county’s homeless program.
Grant restrictions limited the programs the county could invest in, she said.
The largest funding pot for the homeless program is the Consolidated Homeless Grant through the state Department of Commerce, which provides about $2.5 million to $3 million in a two-year grant cycle. Magasis said local 2163 funds provide another $1 million annually. The report didn’t include a look at federal HOME funds, which are dedicated to affordable housing.
The Consolidated Homelessness Grant has restrictions, but some does go to permanent supportive housing, Magasis said. The local 2163 dollars are flexible and could go toward permanent housing if allocated that way, she said, but they are currently going toward shelters like Camp Hope, Rod’s House and the YWCA’s domestic violence shelter. Shifting the funding toward permanent housing would mean less for the programs already being funded, she said.
“I think it makes sense to use 2163 potentially for permanent supportive housing, at least in part, but I want to have the data to help inform those decisions,” Magasis said. “When we talk about what we could do better in Yakima County, one of the things I think we can do better and it’s been a goal of our department is to focus more on trying to be more data driven in the selection of what types of projects get funding.”
Using data
One recommendation made in the report is that homeless programs adopt a more data-driven approach to distribute funding.
Yakima County collects performance data for the state’s Homeless Management Information System, but the report said the county department didn’t use the data to evaluate program outcomes or discuss performance with providers.
The Yakima County homeless program officials said they only looked at past performance results if providers decided to include this information in their application for funding renewal, according to the report.
Magasis said one issue the county is facing is a lack of consistent training around data input and analysis.
“The issue that we have is that there’s not there’s not been consistent training to our providers on how to use (the Homeless Management Information System), and so sometimes when we go to pull reports, the data that comes out isn’t always coherent or consistent, and sometimes there are gaps that are confusing,” she said.
Efforts are being made to remedy that, she said.
Murdock said there is plenty of data to be used, and plenty of ways to use it. Looking at a complete inventory of services offered in Yakima County would be helpful, she said, which is something that’s already being looked at.
The county could also look at how many people are at risk of losing housing, and how many are entering the emergency response system, how long they’re staying and how they’re exiting, Murdock said.
“How can data be used?” Lots of ways, she said. “We’re drowning in data.”
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KREM
The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 8 following a scheduled special meeting, according to the city of Spokane.
SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane City Council President Breean Beggs has called for an executive session with council members in response to the recent police presence at the I-90 homeless camp.
The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 8 following a scheduled special meeting, according to the city of Spokane. The meeting will discuss the legalities of law enforcement's actions and future steps with city legal.
According to a press release, Beggs has contacted city legal to clarify the legality of "this unauthorized notice of closure without providing adequate housing options" and whether or not local law enforcement will attempt an "unconstitutional invasion of the property."
“The City of Spokane’s understanding of the law has consistently been that our employees cannot participate in a forcible entry into the fenced campground without the consent of the owners or operators of the property or a signed judicial order," Beggs said in a statement. "I want to protect our officers from the personal legal risk of being dragged into lawsuits, preserve the Constitution for all community members, and focus our efforts on solving this housing crisis with permanent affordable housing and services so that Camp Hope quickly becomes a distant memory.”
Council members Lori Kinnear, Karen Stratton and Zack Zappone also provided statements in response to police presence at the camp.
Lori Kinnear:
“The millions of dollars being spent thus far on transitioning people out of homelessness and into stable and safe housing options will be wasted if this population is disbursed to resume life on the streets throughout the City.”
Karen Stratton:
“We all want Camp Hope to close as quickly as possible. It’s disturbing to see Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich waste law enforcement resources to use tactics of intimidation and antagonization going against our community values of treating everyone with basic human dignity.”
Zack Zappone:
“We all want Camp Hope to close as quickly as possible. It’s disturbing to see Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich waste law enforcement resources to use tactics of intimidation and antagonization going against our community values of treating everyone with basic human dignity.”
The city mentioned that Beggs and Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward signed on to a multi-million dollar proposal this past summer to combine state and local resources to transition residents living at the camp into better housing. The city says these efforts have led the population of the camp to decrease from over 600 to less than 440 so far with many more beds going online within the next few weeks.
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KXLY
Posted: December 7, 2022 10:36 PM Updated: December 8, 2022 12:20 AM byRania Kaur
SPOKANE, Wash. — Some at Camp Hope were emotional, not knowing the future of what they call their home. Others are prepared for whatever happens next.
Kathy Kerans wrapped up her shift at Camp Hope’s resource tent, knowing what a night is like at the camp.
“It’s cold, very cold,” Kerans said. “We have buddy heaters and things like that.”
Kerans has lived at Camp Hope with her dog for the past nine months.
“It’s safer for me here than it would be by myself somewhere,” she said. “At least I have everybody, there’s a lot of good people here. We have some bad, don’t get me wrong, but there’s a lot of good people here too.”
As she waits for permanent housing, Camp Hope is her temporary home.
“What are we going to do? It’s almost Christmas time, so they’re going to come in here and break us all up before Christmas time and send us all out, by ourselves, alone?”
Earl Anderson, however, says he’s prepared for what’s to come.
“I’d be ready for that because of these flyers,” he said. “I have what I call a fall-out bag. I’m already packed up.”
He’s also waiting for housing and doesn’t think the warning from local law enforcement is necessary.
“It’s unhumanly for people to want people to come out of their tents and not survive,” Anderson said. “There’s not places open right now. There’s no housing.”
Kerans says she doesn’t want her life and job dissolved.
“It’s hard, but we’re working through it,” Kerans said.