4/27/2022
After reading the first two articles below from the Spokesman, can’t we just pretend that all those folks out at Camp Hope II are college students that can’t find a room? It’s all about “framing” the argument. Nice college students vs. “homeless” people. Makes a difference in your mind, doesn’t it? Instead of, as the Mayor puts it, trying to make homelessness less comfortable (living in a tent with no private bath, no showers, surrounded by 300 people is too “comfortable”?), we would be doing everything we could to try to make those students more comfortable. Quotes from Mayor Woodward in the article:
… Woodward said, “I think we need to get to the point where we’re working to make homelessness less comfortable and get people connected to services.”
“I think we need to be able to offer the kinds of resources that people need to move them out of homelessness rather than make them comfortable in their homelessness,” she said.
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Spokesman-Review
Mayor still supports 250-bed shelter
HOUSING SHORTAGE AND SOARING RENTS SQUEEZE U.S. COLLEGE STUDENTS
KREM
KHQ
'A chance': Spokane couple housing people formerly experiencing homelessness speaks out
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Spokesman-Review
Mayor still supports 250-bed shelter
By Greg Mason
THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
While members of the Spokane City Council have offered recommendations to Mayor Nadine Woodward’s administration for what new requests for proposals should include, Woodward said the council’s input won’t impact her administration’s priorities for a homeless shelter on East Trent Avenue.
Woodward previously identified a vacant warehouse at 4320 E. Trent Ave. as the ideal site for an approximately 33,000-square-foot facility with a daily usage of 250 beds plus surge capacity. The City Council, however, is recommending shelter space with less than half that capacity.
The mayor, still gunning for that 250-bed facility with onsite wraparound services, said Tuesday a potential lease is still in the works with the property’s owner, local developer Larry Stone.
“I think they are moving toward an approach of smaller numbers of population in shelters, but there are cities across the country that operate large numbers of people in shelters,” Woodward said. “On that issue, it’s more on management rather than numbers.”
When the time comes, the City Council will ultimately have to approve the East Trent Avenue lease and operator.
Council President Breean Beggs said Tuesday the council “will be using the criteria that we approved in our resolution” when making those decisions.
“I think we could all be a little more collaborative in getting the shelter open,” Woodward said. “When we do have something, to have to, at this point, have it slowed down, it’s frustrating, but we’ll keep moving forward.”
City administrators originally sent out a request for proposals from potential shelter operators in March. They are now redoing that process, citing breach of process and conflicts of interest with a board tasked to recommend a provider.
It’s unclear whether that group, Spokane’s Continuum of Care Board, will be involved in the new request for proposals process, which is expected to start next week. Woodward said officials are discussing the makeup of a new review committee.
The mayor said she otherwise does not expect significant changes with the coming request for proposals. This time around, submitters know – and likely have toured – the site for the facility they’re pitching to run, she said.
City Council members formalized their recommendations Monday night with a 5-2 vote, with councilmen Michael Cathcart and Jonathan Bingle opposed.
Slightly adjusted from a draft councilmembers discussed last week, the recommended priorities include shelter space capable of housing around 100 beds per acre, flexible space for increasing extreme weather capacity, dedicated space for onsite service providers and proximity and/or dedicated transportation to training sites, such as apprenticeship programs and job training resources.
The resolution also calls for concepts involving both pallet shelter and drive-in models of housing, restricting each to up to 100 people. Proposals for these models would also have to include “a secure, 24/7 monitored fenced perimeter,” while they could not be adjacent to another homeless facility.
Monday’s vote came following a public comment period that saw 30 people chime in on the issue. Councilmembers adjusted the legislation to reflect their items are recommendations, not requirements.
Councilman Zack Zappone described the council’s recommendations as part of a “holistic approach” to addressing homelessness in the city.
“A shelter on Trent is not going to solve homelessness in Spokane. It is not even going to allow us to clear a camp because it doesn’t have enough capacity,” Zappone said, referencing the Camp Hope homeless encampment on East Second Avenue. “Rather, it is a step forward and we’re all agreeing on something: We need another shelter. We’re agreeing on the next steps.”
Cathcart said the 100-beds-per-acre limitation could hamstring the potential of the East Trent Avenue site and force the city to somehow find a handful of other locations to accommodate the city’s homeless population.
“It just doesn’t make sense that we would overly limit this to the point where we simply can’t set up a shelter, because that’s probably what’s going to happen,” he said, later adding, “There really is no great option, but this is the best of the options that we have right now.”
The space provisions recommended by the council are unrealistic, Woodward said.
City officials have abandoned previous attempts to locate an emergency shelter due to sharp opposition from neighbors.
The East Trent Avenue property – located in a heavy industrial zoned area – has received its share of pushback in recent weeks from area businesses and institutions, including Spokane Community Colleges and the warehouse’s immediate neighbors, Oak Harbor Freight and Modern Machinery.
Woodward said she also does not support the drive-in models included in the resolution, as vehicles are unsafe options in extreme cold or heat.
“I think we can do better than that,” Woodward said. “That’s why we are working so hard on this shelter to provide people a safe place inside to sleep with meals, access to showers, restrooms and the kinds of services they need to be connected to to help them move out of homelessness.”
Pallet homes, on the other hand, could be “a great option” that the city or the private sector could explore, Woodward said. Pallet shelters, manufactured in Everett, are like tiny homes that don’t have plumbing and can be assembled quickly.
The mixed approach recommended by the City Council was partially honed out of concepts offered during several public comment sessions at council meetings in recent weeks, with homeless individuals and advocates calling on city officials to consider alternatives.
Zappone said the limits recommended by the resolution recognize that warehousing 250 people together could make for potential problems.
“We hear a lot from people in the homeless community who have that lived experience who say, ‘I don’t want to go to a warehouse. I don’t want to be there,’ ” he said.
Asked about those preferences, Woodward said, “I think we need to get to the point where we’re working to make homelessness less comfortable and get people connected to services.”
“I think we need to be able to offer the kinds of resources that people need to move them out of homelessness rather than make them comfortable in their homelessness,” she said.
HOUSING SHORTAGE AND SOARING RENTS SQUEEZE U.S. COLLEGE STUDENTS
By Janie Har
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BERKELEY, Calif. – University of California, Berkeley sophomore Terrell Thompson slept in his car for nearly two weeks at the start of the school year last fall, living out of a suitcase stashed in the trunk and texting dozens of landlords a day in a desperate search for a place to live.
The high-achieving student from a low-income household in Sacramento, California, was majoring in business administration at one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Yet, Thompson folded his 6-foot frame into the back seat of his Honda Accord at night, wondering how he would ever find a home in the exorbitantly expensive San Francisco Bay area.
“Academically it was hard, because I’m worried about finding housing and I’m worried about my clothes and I’m worried about getting my car broken into all the time,” said 19-year-old Thompson, who now lives in a studio apartment he found last September. “I was anxious 24/7.”
College students across the U.S. are looking for housing for the 2022-23 school year and if 2021 was any indication, it won’t be easy. Students at colleges from California to Florida were denied on-campus housing last fall and found themselves sitting out the year at home or living in motel rooms or vehicles as surging rents and decades of failing to build sufficient student housing came to a head.
For some colleges, the housing crunch was related to increased demand by students who had been stuck at home during the pandemic. For others, including many in California, the shortage reflects a deeper conflict between the colleges and homeowners who don’t want new housing built for students who they say increase congestion and noise.
In March, the University of California, Berkeley, said it would have to cap student enrollment because of a lawsuit brought by irate neighbors over the school’s growth. State lawmakers fast-tracked a fix to allow the campus to enroll as many students as planned for the 2022 fall semester, but the legislation does nothing to produce more housing.
Nationally, 43% of students at four-year universities experienced housing insecurity in 2020, up from 35% in 2019, according to an annual survey conducted by The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice at Temple University. Students reported being unable to pay utilities, rent or mortgage, living in overcrowded units, or moving in with others due to financial difficulties.
And for the first time since it began tracking basic needs in 2015, the survey found an equal percentage – 14% – of students at both four-year and two-year colleges who had experienced homelessness in the last year, said Mark Huelsman, the center’s director of policy and advocacy.
“This is a function of rents rising, the inability of communities and institutions to build enough housing for students and other costs of college going up that create a perfect storm for students,” he said.
For some students, the lack of affordable housing could mean the difference between going to college or not. Others take on massive debt or live so precariously they miss out on all the extracurricular benefits of higher education.
Jonathan Dena, a first-generation college student from the Sacramento area, almost rejected UC Berkeley over the lack of housing, even though it was his “dream program.” He found a studio at the heavily subsidized Rochdale Apartments for under $1,300 a month, but he might have to move because the barebones units may close for a seismic renovation.
Dena, 29, wants to continue living within walking distance of campus for a robust college experience.
But the urban studies major and student government housing commission officer said “it’s kind of scary” how high rents are near campus. Online listings showed a newer one-bedroom for one person at $3,700, as well as a 240-square foot bedroom for two people sharing a bathroom for nearly $1,700 per person a month.
“If I go to school in Berkeley, I would love to live in Berkeley,” he said.
Nationally, rents have increased 17% since March 2020, said Chris Salviati, senior economist with Apartment List, but the increase has been higher in some popular college towns. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, saw a 24% jump in rents and Tempe, Arizona, saw a 31% hike.
In some cases, the rental increases have been exacerbated by a lack of on-campus housing.
Last fall, demand for on-campus housing was so high that the University of Tampa offered incoming freshmen a break on tuition if they deferred until fall 2022. Rent in the Florida city has skyrocketed nearly 30% from a year ago, according to Apartment List.
Rent in Knoxville has soared 36% since March 2020, and it could get worse after the University of Tennessee announced a new lottery system for its dorms this fall, saying it needs to prioritize housing for a larger freshman class.
Even two-year community colleges, which have not traditionally provided dorms, are rethinking student needs as the cost of housing rises.
Last October, Long Beach City College launched a pilot program to provide up to 15 homeless students space in an enclosed parking garage. They sleep in their cars and have access to bathrooms and showers, electrical outlets and internet while they work with counselors to find permanent housing.
Uduak-Joe Ntuk, president of the college’s Board of Trustees, hesitated when asked if the program will be renewed.
“I want to say no, but I think we will,” he said. “We’re going to have new students come fall semester this year that are going to be in a similar situation, and for us to do nothing is untenable.”
California prides itself on its robust higher education system, but has struggled with housing at its fouryear colleges. Berkeley is notoriously difficult, with cut-throat competition for the few affordable apartments within walking distance to campus.
“I definitely was not prepared to be this stressed about housing every year,” said Jennifer Lopez, 21, a UC Berkeley senior from Cudahy, in southeastern Los Angeles County, and the first in her family to attend college.
She imagined she would spend all four years on campus in dorms, but found herself in a scramble for a safe, affordable place to sleep. The urban studies major currently splits an attic space in what is technically a one-bedroom apartment shared by four undergraduates, one of whom sleeps in the dining room.
The total monthly rent is nearly $3,700 – laughably high in most U.S. cities – but she’s grateful for it.
“If I hadn’t heard about this place, I was either going to end up living in a basement, or in this other apartment I know (where) the girls are struggling with leaks and mold,” Lopez said.
The Basic Needs Center at UC Berkeley, which operates a food pantry for students and faculty, found in a snapshot survey that a quarter of undergraduates reported they “lacked a safe, regular and adequate nighttime place to stay and sleep” at some point since October.
“That’s huge,” said Ruben Canedo, co-chair of UC’s systemwide Basic Needs Committee. “This generation of students is navigating the most expensive cost- of-living market while at the same time having the least amount of financial support accessible to them.”
Thompson, the business administration major, started looking for an apartment last May, after spending his first year at home taking classes remotely to save money. He quickly realized that his rental budget of $750 was wildly inadequate and as a second-year student, he no longer qualified for priority in the dorms.
By the time classes began in late August, he was in a panic. He tried commuting from his home in Sacramento, leaving before 6 a.m. for the 80-mile drive to Berkeley and returning home around midnight to avoid traffic.
But that was grueling so he took to sleeping in his car. Initially he parked far away in a spot without parking limits. Then he parked at a lot between two student dorm complexes closer to campus, where exuberant partying kept him up at night.
He attended classes, studied and ate sparingly to save on ballooning food costs. He looked at apartments where five people were squeezed into two bedrooms with pareddown belongings stored under beds.
He slept in his car for almost two weeks until a sympathetic landlord who had also grown up in a low-income home reached out, offering a studio within walking distance of campus. The rent is $1,000 a month, and he hopes to stay until he graduates.
“I think I have a little bit of a PTSD factor,” he said.
Most students have no idea of the housing situation when they choose to attend UC Berkeley, said 19-year-old freshman Sanaa Sodhi, and the university needs to do more to prepare students and support them in their search.
The political science major is excited to move out of the dorms and into a two-bedroom apartment where she and three friends are taking over the lease. The unit is older but a bargain at $3,000 a month, she said. The housemates were prepared to pay up to $5,200 for a safe place.
University students depleted by a massive housing reduction and climbing rents are paying large amounts and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS
University of California, Berkeley freshmen Sanaa Sodhi, left, and Cheryl Tugade search listings for apartments in Berkeley, Calif., on March 29.
By Janie Har
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BERKELEY, Calif. – College students squeezed by a massive housing shortage and surging rents are paying too much for moldy apartments, commuting long distances or sleeping in their cars to get an education – and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.
For some colleges, the housing crunch was related to the pandemic, which muddied projections for who might want on-campus dorms when classes resumed in person last fall.
But the lack of housing both on-campus and off has been a longstanding problem at other schools, including many in California, where homeowners and communities have sued to curb new student housing construction.
Nationally, 43% of students at fouryear universities experienced housing insecurity in 2020, up from 35% in 2019, according to an annual survey conducted by the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice at Temple University.
Students reported being unable to pay their rent or mortgage, living in overcrowded units or moving in with others due to financial difficulties.
For the first time since it began tracking basic needs in 2015, the survey found an equal percentage – 14% – of students at both four-year and twoyear colleges who had experienced homelessness in the last year.
“This is a function of rents rising, the inability of communities and institutions to build enough housing for students and other costs of college going up that create a perfect storm for students,” said Mark Huelsman, the center’s director of policy and advocacy.
Terrell Thompson, a sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley, slept in his car for nearly two weeks at the start of the school year last fall, unable to find an apartment in his price range.
The university has limited dorms and competition is fierce for nearby off-campus units, which can start at $1,600 for a 300-square-foot studio.
“Academically it was hard, because I’m worried about finding housing and I’m worried about my clothes and I’m worried about getting my car broken into all the time,” said the 19-yearold Thompson, who now lives in an apartment.
Nationally, rents have increased 17% since March 2020, said Chris Salviati, senior economist with Apartment List, but the increase has been higher in some popular college towns.
From left, University of California, Berkeley students Sofia Howard-Jimenez, Jennifer Lopez and Aisha Wallace-Palomares talk March 22 in the dining room of the apartment they share.
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KREM
The 2022 State of the City Address will be held in the Centennial Ballroom of the Spokane Convention Center at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
Pattern of partly cloudy weather starts Wednesday
SPOKANE, Wash. — Editor's note: The above video discusses the Spokane City Council's criteria for a new homeless shelter and Mayor Woodward's proposed shelter site.
Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward is set to announce new health and safety initiatives during the annual State of the City Address on Wednesday morning.
The mayor is also set to discuss the next steps in the city's plan to address homelessness.
According to Brian Coddington, the city of Spokane's communications director, Woodward will announce the formation of a new Violent Crimes Task Force for the Spokane Police Department (SPD). She also plans to discuss "the next evolution of the plan to move people off of sidewalks, alleys, and other outdoor spaces and into safe, healthy, and humane resources."
Coddington also said the mayor will announce an additional resource for the homeless community during her address. He did not specify what the resource is but said the announcement will "include a continuation of shifting the concentration of shelter space located in the downtown core."
The address comes after the Spokane City Council voted Monday night to pass a resolution related to limiting the number of beds at some future homeless shelters in the city. The resolution, which is non-binding, would limit the number of shelter beds to 100 per acre.
Woodward has proposed a new shelter with 250 beds at a site on East Trent and said the council's resolution will not affect the proposed shelter site.
The 2022 State of the City Address will be held in the Centennial Ballroom of the Spokane Convention Center at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday. You can watch the address live on KREM.com.
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KHQ
SPOKANE, Wash. - Spokane has hundreds of people experiencing homelessness, some living in tents, others in cars or RVs, and some with nothing but a blanket on the sidewalk.
As the city attempts to move quickly to secure a location for new shelter, community members are asking what is taking so long. But, the reality is that a new shelter alone won't fix the situation.
“It was going on long before this mayor was in place and we are going to continue to struggle with this,” Councilwoman Lori Kinnear said at Monday night's council meeting.
The need is great, which is why Ronald Simon and his wife Teresa Simon decided to take a chance.
“They don't have any employment history, they don't have the ability for first and last month's rent and damage security deposit,” Ronald Simon said. “They just need a chance.”
A chance that the Simons took three years ago. Today, they have multiple tenants living in their property. All of them used to struggle with homelessness, all of them with different stories and all of them paying rent. Vincent Brown has lived in the house for two years now and said this opportunity has been a godsend.
“It's everything, it's important, I mean Teresa is like a mom that you don't have you know,” Brown said.
Brown isn't the only one who thinks that, one of his housemates, Mark, said he has seen it all. From battling drug and alcohol addiction to living on the streets, now he is in a house and has something to call his own. Still, he will tell you himself, everything he went through, he went through for a reason.
“For the most part life has been great, you know it's not all that bad you just have to believe in yourself,” Mark said. “And trust in others that welcome you into a fine place or welcome you into their lives.”