8/25/2022
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The Spokesman-Review
City Council votes to grant itself more powers
CITY GATE WORKS TO RESTORE LOST LIVES
KXLY
The Center Square
RangeMedia
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The Spokesman-Review
City Council votes to grant itself more powers
By Greg Mason
THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Opening new city-run homeless shelters, police precincts and other operations will require officials to navigate additional requirements, thanks to new rules approved by the Spokane City Council earlier this week.
The change approved Monday gives the council final authority on locating city facilities, effectively taking that power away from the mayor.
Council members who supported the rules argued they will force a more open process and extra opportunities for public feedback. Mayor Nadine Woodward, however, noted the council added a new layer of bureaucracy to the process of opening shelters even though multiple council members have criticized her administration for not doing enough to open them.
The legislation, described as “dangerous” and “retaliatory” by Woodward, passed with a 5-2 vote and takes effect immediately.
It was crafted in response to Woodward’s decision in June to relocate a police precinct in the East Central Neighborhood into the former East Side Library on Stone Street, which was left empty when Spokane Public Library opened its new Liberty Park branch.
The measure sets specific criteria for locating the following: fire and police stations, city-owned homeless shelters, community centers, and city-owned water reservoirs and certain other utility facilities.
According to the ordinance, sites selected for police precincts must be in a frequently traveled location with high public visibility of patrol cars, foot and bicycle patrols. The location must also be able to provide public access to onsite services as well as adequate space and facilities for services through Spokane C.O.P.S.
The law also establishes a public process the city administration must follow before even siting these types of facilities. That process includes at least one public hearing as well as a review and recommendation from the City Council’s Equity Subcommittee. The ordinance also bars the city from providing services out of a selected location without City Council approval. The ordinance applies to city facilities that are located or relocated after June 25 of this year.
“This just tells everybody, ‘Take a breath, don’t rush into anything, go through a process and figure out how to do things,’ ” Council President Breean Beggs saidMonday. “That’s what this is meant to do going forward not just for this facility, but for other similar facilities.”
Woodward decried the ordinance as another attack to limit the powers of the mayor.
Last month, the City Council passed legislation to set up a November ballot proposition that, if approved, would make the selection of a city attorney subject to the council’s approval of a seven-year contract. The removal of a city attorney also would be subject to council approval.
Woodward said neighbors have overwhelmingly embraced the new police precinct that sparked the council’s ire.
“The Council acted out of displeasure for the location of a police facility. The emergency designation was done to bypass any possibility of mayoral review,” Woodward said in a statement Monday night.
Precinct staying put
Woodward said Tuesday she is not planning to take the police department out of the library building for the time being, as the city’s legal department is looking into whether the ordinance is actually retroactive to her decision to relocate the police precinct.
“Once we get the clarity, we will make some decisions moving forward, but I have said in the past that I wasn’t going to move police out of here,” she said. “We’re still moving forward with making this space the best space for our police and for behavioral health functions as well.”
Seven officers work out of the precinct. Woodward and police leaders alike have acknowledged the library building needs more work toward becoming a fully formed community policing precinct.
Artifacts of the former library, such as hanging section signs and glass art, were still present as of Tuesday afternoon.
The front doorbell did not seem to work. The building’s main space was largely empty, with officer workstations at opposite ends of the room.
The plan is to wall the building into sections for police activities and health services. Spokane police Maj. Eric Olsen said Monday police were looking into how to best structure the building to meet those needs.
Excelsior Wellness is the city administration’s preference for a health services provider, as recommended by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Center, city spokesman Brian Coddington said.
The city needs council approval on expenses of $50,000 or more, Woodward said.
“I don’t know if we’re going to be able to keep it under that number,” she said.
“The goal is to outfit it most appropriately and figure out how to pay for that and get that over to the council,” Coddington said.
Beggs said he envisions leasing out the library space perhaps to a clinic or another organization and then using that rent to purchase or lease another, better location for a police precinct.
The City Council will focus on a process to find a new tenant for the former library, Beggs said Tuesday. He said the council would then work with a prospective tenant to enter into a contract with them so they can legally occupy the building.
“I guess if they don’t, somebody will take legal action,” Beggs said. “I don’t know if it’s the council or a community member.”
Prior to moving into the library at the end of June, officers for years had been located on the second floor of a nunnery at St. Ann Catholic Church, which was initially thought of as a temporary location. Woodward proposed using the library as a police precinct based on what she has described as overwhelming community support collected over at least three years through community feedback as well as a ThoughtExchange survey commissioned last year by the City Council.
When Woodward first pitched the idea during a news conference in May, she said the council would have the final say as to how the building is used.
But that same week, Beggs introduced legislation to dictate the library’s use and find a different East Central location for a precinct. Woodward, citing her operational purview to do so without council approval, gave the order to move the officers at St. Ann Church into the library.
The ordinance specifically applies to basic city facilities located or relocated after June 25. Police started moving into the library June 30.
Asked where officers would go if forced out of the library, Woodward said it’s her understanding that officers cannot go back to St. Ann Church since the contract has been dissolved. Initially enacted in June 2012, the contract with St. Ann Church was a monthly lease that charged $475, Coddington said.
“There isn’t a place for them,” Woodward said. “That’s a good question.”
Church representatives could not be reached for comment.
While she once lauded ThoughtExchange as “the perfect tool to start this very important conversation,” Councilwoman Betsy Wilkerson said Monday many survey responses came from outside of East Central.
Of the more than 600 survey participants, 190 (35%) said they live in City Council District 2, the district that encompasses the former library building. Another 202 (37%) said they were unsure which council district they lived in, according to the results.
To that point, Wilkerson – one of the council’s District 2 representatives – maintains she does not believe enough outreach was done to get feedback from the more than 4,000 people that live in the neighborhood.
“I have said many times that if it came back to a precinct, great,” she said, “but right now, all of the information is so anecdotal that we really don’t have any true data to know what that neighborhood wants.”
‘Council owns crime’
The ordinance passed Monday was significantly different than the one first introduced by the council more than a month ago, amended just hours before the council’s 6 p.m. legislative session.
The amendments redefined which facilities are relevant to the law as “basic City facilities,” notably adding city-owned homeless shelters.
Councilwoman Lori Kinnear, who pushed for the addition of homeless shelters, said her reasoning was based on the community response she’s seen over the past three years of the city locating, or attempting to locate, homeless shelters in area neighborhoods.
She said the measure also forces the city to be very specific when considering types of shelters – such as low-barrier or 24/7 facilities – “so that there are no surprises for community members.”
“I think this is one way we can hold ourselves accountable and say, ‘OK, we’re going to have this idea to put this here. Now let’s hear what the community has to say about it,’ ” she said.
Woodward said the inclusion of homeless shelters in the ordinance “would only make it that much harder” to find a suitable location for one in the future.
“I’m still waiting for their recommendations in their districts for homeless shelter options,” she said.
The amended ordinance also somewhat loosened the specifications required of potential precinct locations, dropping the locational requirements for a facility within a documented cluster of criminal activity, within one block of a main street of a neighborhood business district and within a commercial zone. City-owned homeless shelters, meanwhile, must be must be accessible by public transportation, must not be located within three blocks of schools, and musthave a Good Neighbor Agreement in place between the shelter provider, the surrounding businesses and the relevant neighborhood council. Council members Monday night voted to strike a paragraph that specifically highlighted how residents have the right to take legal action toward an injunction if they feel the city did not follow the process outlined in the law.
“Anybody can sue anybody for anything. It happens all the time,” Kinnear said Monday. “Let’s not open the door.”
Councilman Michael Cathcart predicted there will be a lawsuit in the near future that will result in the police’s removal from the former library.
Cathcart, who voted against the ordinance along with Councilman Jonathan Bingle, said the legislation puts public safety response directly on the City Council’s shoulders, not the administration.
Cathcart also called for the city to reopen appointments to the City Council’s Equity Subcommittee, saying the group now needs experts in financial sustainability, crime and neighborhood impacts. “Council owns crime,” he said, “because now, this council is responsible for siting police precincts, determining where we’re going to deploy those resources. It’s on this City Council.”
Woodward was joined by representatives from the East Spokane Business Association, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, the Spokane Police Department and other residents in calling on the council to reject the ordinance.
She referenced how the City Council is pushing to purchase the Premera Blue Cross campus on East Sprague Avenue to use as a municipal criminal justice center for municipal court, court personnel, public defenders, prosecutors and criminal justice services. Woodward criticized the council for leaving municipal justice centers off the list of facilities affected by the legislation.
To date, the council has committed $5 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding toward the purchase of the Premera campus. Woodward said the council is pushing for the justice center “without a competitive process and without public input.”
“The municipal justice center, which would include municipal courts and holding cells for defendants, is purposefully omitted from the definition in this ordinance of public safety facilities despite its obvious connection to the criminal justice system,” Woodward said.“That’s the definition of hypocrisy.”
Asked why council members left out municipal justice centers, Beggs said they aren’t included as essential city facilities under the city’s comprehensive plan, while the city’s legal department did not specifically recommend adding them.
“Except for the addition of the homeless shelters at the end, the list of what should be and should not be came from city legal,” he said.
‘Toxic’ governing?
Other speakers Monday night included Freda Gandy, executive director of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, which is adjacent to the library building.
Gandy said the presence of the police precinct has not affected the community center’s services, including the food bank, while she has not heard any complaints.
She believes the controversy has distracted from “what really matters to families in that community,” saying she does not understand why the former library could not be used jointly for police and behavioral health services.
“I just do not understand how we got here. This, to me, is just absolutely ridiculous,” Gandy said.
“How we are choosing to govern is toxic, and it’s trickling down to our neighborhoods. It’s affecting how we interact as a community with other people.”
Other popular concepts for the former library have included a cultural center or a mental health facility.
“It’s not public safety legislation. It’s about community resource management, which is precisely why I voted for my council representative to legislate,” said Jac Archer, organizer for the Peace and Justice Action League in Spokane as well as Spokane Community Against Racism.
“Whatever the old library becomes – behavioral health, a cultural center or a police station – Spokane deserves an inclusive, collaborative and transparent process for deciding the fate of community resources, and that is what this ordinance gives us.”
CITY GATE WORKS TO RESTORE LOST LIVES
By Cindy Hval
FOR THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Long before homelessness became an ever-present topic at City Council meetings, long before newer nonprofits began advocating for a solution, John Murinko walked among the broken and the hurting on the streets of Spokane.
Thirty-five years ago, he and several local pastors banded together to create the City Gate, a church specifically for Spokane’s inner-city dwellers and focused on ministering to the physical and spiritual needs of homeless individuals.
From a site on First Avenue to a location at the Otis Hotel to its present home on South Madison, the church has evolved into an enterprise offering a social dropin center, hot meals, a food bank, clothing bank, life skills and social services, as well as low-cost housing and emergency shelter.
At its heart is Murinko, a soft-spoken man whose sturdy stature reflects the high school wrestler and football player he was in Deer Lodge, Montana.
His empathy for those in need stems from his early life.
“I grew up in a family of nine. Dad was a miner and an alcoholic and so was Mom,” he said. “Dad was abusive and died in a mining accident when I was 13. Mom died when I was 12.”
He lived with relatives, including a sister, but ended up sleeping in a variety of barns.
“I worked for a lot of ranchers and stayed in their barns,” Murinko said. “Sports kept me in school.”
And there was a girl. “She was one of those ‘church girls,’ persistent and kind,” he said.
When he took a job out of town, she wrote him a letter.
“It was the first time I cried. I was 16. I discovered somebody really cares about me.”
Her name was Shirley and he married her two years later. They spent 44 years together. She died three years ago, but her picture hangs next to the kitchen at City Gate.
“I still have that letter,” he said. They moved to Spokane in 1978 and Murinko worked as a cabinet maker.
“I saw all of these people asking for handouts downtown,” he said. “I kind of broke. I cried about it for a long time.”
Then, with Shirley’s support, he decided to do something besides weep, and the City Gate was formally incorporated in 1988.
Murinko had moved from cabinet making to plumbing and purchased Bill the Fauceteer from its owner. The job supported his family, but he spent many hours downtown, befriending those on the streets and inviting them to City Gate. His wife and sons, Eric and Shawn, spent countless hours there and Eric now works in administration for the nonprofit.
The ministry grew, but so did the need. In 2000, Murinko saw the site on Madison for sale and presented the idea of purchasing it to the board. A contractor looked over the building and told them they’d need $1 million to purchase and renovate it.
“Ruth Pearson, an amazing person, was on our board. She wrote us a check for the full amount,” he said.
The additional space meant they could increase their services.
“Now, we can offer long-term housing and emergency shelter,” Murinko said. “Our mission has always been to reclaim, rebuild and restore lost and broken lives – and it’s a long process.”
For Murinko, that process begins with
See CITY GATE, 8
Pastor John Murinko poses for a photo at The City Gate on Aug. 16 in Spokane.
TYLER TJOMSLAND/ THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Continued from 7
discovering what the most urgent need of an individual is and meeting it. Is it a meal? A hot shower? Clean clothes? Medical assistance?
The City Gate networks with a host of agencies from the VA to Frontier Behavioral Health. A nurse who once volunteered as a student now comes in as needed. An AA group meets daily, and their food and clothing bank provides necessities.
While the news is filled with stories about how society is failing the unhoused, Murinko sees success stories wherever he looks.
Sitting in the dining room at City Gate, he pointed to a man sweeping the floor.
“He was the worst heroin addict I’ve ever seen – meaner than a junkyard dog,” Murinko said. “Now, he’s married and on staff, in charge of the food bank.”
He pointed to a man at the front desk.
“He’s a former gang leader who followed a girl up here from Arizona. Now, he’s married, got his kids back, owns his own home and manages our volunteers.”
Though City Gate is a church, it doesn’t require anyone in need of assistance to attend a service.
“If you’re trying to reach people with the Gospel, it’s not about your words, it’s more about what you do,” Murinko said. “I don’t spend a lot of time in here. I’m out there, befriending.”
He shrugged. “They know me.” For all his gentleness, he insists that those accessing services at City Gate be respectful of the community.
“I’ve closed the dining room for two weeks when there’s been tussles and squabbles. We want them to be part of the community,” he said.
After spending 35 years working with this vulnerable population, Murinko said everyone’s story is different and a one-size-fitsall approach simply doesn’t work.
At 64, he has no intention of slowing down. In fact, he sold his business to spend more time with the work he feels God called him to.
“Why would I ever go anywhere else?” he asked. “I don’t get discouraged, but sometimes it breaks my heart.”
Murinko invites those who’d like to be part of the solution to come and see what City Gate is all about.
“Come visit,” he said. “If you do, you’ll probably have a different view of the homeless.”
For more information about the City Gate, visit www. thecitygatespokane. org/
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KXLY
Posted: August 24, 2022 10:06 PM Updated: August 25, 2022 6:52 AM byJordan Smith
MOSCOW, Idaho — It’s the first week of classes at the University of Idaho, and while most students are settling into their new dorms, 88 students are being forced to make do with a hotel room.
U of I residence halls are exceeding capacity, leaving the unlucky few to live off-campus for the time being.
“I was going to go to Boise State for college, but I couldn’t get into any dorms there,” said Shafer Dicus, who’s currently staying at the Fairbridge Inn. “I thought I’d be able to here, so I signed up a little bit late.”
The university is showing residence halls at max capacity, at least on paper.
Dicus gave a 4 News Now tour of his new living conditions.
“We’re supposed to have laundry here but the dryer doesn’t work so we have to go to the laundromat down there,” he said.
The room isn’t too different from a dorm, in fact, the beds are even bigger. And although the A/C leaks, he’s grateful to have it during the August heat.
“The living isn’t bad, it’s just far away from campus,” he said.
It’s about a 10 minute walk from campus, where all 2,013 housing options are taken, though the school doesn’t expect that to last long.
U of I has what’s called a “melt,” which is a projection of the number of students who have been accepted and have a dorm room waiting for them. But for one reason or another, they never show up. Then, those beds become available to one of the students living at the motel.
“It’s really hard to tell who’s going to be there on the first day of classes so what we have is a 10 day count,” said Josh Kosh, director of Marketing and Communications of the Auxiliary Department at U of I. “So on the tenth day of classes, though not exact, we’re going to have a pretty good idea of who’s coming and who’s not going to be coming.”
The University of Idaho’s goal is to have everybody at the Fairbridge Inn back on campus by the end of September. Dicus says in the meantime, he’s found a great group of people to get through this experience with.
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The Center Square
FILE - A Redfin "for sale" sign stands in front of a house on Oct. 28, 2020, in Seattle. The Seattle-based real estate brokerage says it will lay off 8% of its employees as the housing market cools off, Tuesday, June 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
Elaine Thompson/ AP Photos
(The Center Square) – The Tri-Cities area has seen the most population growth of any area in Washington during the past 10 years, according to 2020 U.S. Census data.
The largest population change in the state occurred in Franklin County, which grew by 24%. Neighboring Benton County grew by about 18%, which is above the 14.6% state average, according to the Census report.
Much of the growth in Tri-Cities is tied to the Hispanic population, which the Census reports as 50% of the population in Franklin County and almost 24% in Benton County.
Census data shows that, between 2010 and 2020, the Hispanic population in Franklin grew by more than 31%. In Benton County, it grew by almost 51%.
The population in Kennewick is about 82,633 and, in Pasco, is reported at 74,266. Richland boasts a population of 57,353. The combined metropolitan area is now the third largest in Washington, behind Spokane and Seattle.
The growth in Eastern Washington is reflected in Census data as a mixture of natural increase due to the number of births outpacing deaths, but also as low home prices and the pandemic opening avenues for people to move to rural areas and work remotely.
Kennewick, Pasco and Richland are in a region with very strong job creation which is drawing many people, according to the Tri-City Development Council.
Jobs are available in technology manufacturing, agriculture and health care. Major employees include Battelle/Pacific National Laboratory, Lockheed Martin, Bechtel National, Amazon and Tyson Fresh Meats.
The demand for housing in Tri-Cities is not keeping pace with population growth, reports the Tri-City Association of Realtors
As of June, the median house sold for $440,000, up from $385,000 in 2021 and was $309,500 in 2019. While that puts mortgage payments beyond some families, households in the Tri-Cities earn a median yearly income of $72,538, and 48.98% earn more than the national average.
There are 39% more households who own their homes than there are renters, according to Census data.
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RangeMedia
Contributor
15 steps we need to take now that we've legalized missing middle housing.
By Anthony Gill, Spokane Rising
This story was republished from Spokane Rising, an urbanist blog focused on ways to make our city a better place to live. Anthony Gill is an economic development professional and writer.
Now that we’ve successfully re-legalized most “missing middle” housing types in Spokane, many housing advocates have been asking the question… what’s next?
Legalizing “missing middle” is not a small win, but it’s also not a panacea. If we’re lucky, it will begin to create more housing choices over the next five, ten, or twenty years as duplexes and triplexes are developed across the city.
But we don’t have time to wait. Renters have been arriving home to massive rent increases, in some cases doubling their rent. And in May, the median home price hit a record $450,000 — a 20% year-over-year increase, and a stunning 55% increase over the past two years. These trends are simply not sustainable—for renters, for homeowners (or prospective homeowners!), for our economy, or for the city at large.
Fortunately, there are actions we can take now to improve housing affordability, livability, and justice. So without further ado, here’s an agenda for housing in Spokane, now that we’ve approved fourplexes.
King County is purchasing old hotels for permanent supportive housing through its “Health through Housing” program, using sales tax funds which Spokane can also has access. (Photo courtesy of King County)
Housing Justice
The first basket of reforms fall under the category of “housing justice”—essentially, rebalancing the housing market through big bets and transformative changes.
Build social housing. In cities like Vienna, social housing (that is, publicly-owned, mixed-income housing) is the norm, and it’s become an international model. Closer to home, similar programs are being explored in from coast to coast, in Seattle and in suburban Maryland. We could create a publicly-owned, social housing provider here in Spokane, with an infusion of capital from existing City budgets and ARPA relief funds. By leveraging the funds and allowing them to revolve, the impact of say, a $40 million investment would be multiplied many times over into thousands of new units.
Purchase old hotels for permanent social housing. Through its “Health through Housing” program, King County intends to provide up to 1,600 emergency and permanent supportive housing units in former hotels. The program includes 24/7 onsite staffing, case management, employment counseling, and other critical health and social resources. This model is also being successfully deployed in San Jose and Los Angeles, and it’s especially thoughtful, since it both closes distressed hotels and provides a new permanent supportive housing option. King County is using funds from a Legislature-authorized sales tax pursue their program. Where is Spokane using its similar funds? Could Spokane County pass a local sales tax for the same purpose?
Tenant first right-of-refusal. When a landlord decides to sell a property, the tenants living in the unit should have a first right-of-refusal to purchase. For apartment properties, the apartment tenants should have an opportunity to organize themselves to purchase their homes. Give a reasonable period for them to seek financing and make the purchase, but tenants should get first priority over other investors. If we’re going all-in, we could even work with local credit unions and banks to provide preferential financing options, or combine our efforts with the idea below.
Invest in a community land trust or bank. Former City Council President Ben Stuckart is leading an effort to launch a land bank in Spokane, and these efforts can reap massive benefits. Essentially, they serve as a tool to improve the viability of affordable housing finance, and allow nonprofit and affordable housing providers to acquire the land on which they would develop. This plan deserves significantly more attention and investment.
Tenant Protections
The next bucket of items may be the most essential.
The City should enact broad protections to protect tenants from abusive practices, level the playing field in an overheated housing market, and ultimately, prevent evictions which can cause people to fall into homelessness.
Fix tenant screening. Sometimes, tenant background checks are used for discriminatory purposes—“felons need not apply”—which transparently violate federal law. Other times, unclear rental standards or requirements can result in landlords violating the law, even unknowingly. Spokane landlords should be banned from considering criminal records (except perhaps sex offender registries and rentals of bedrooms in shared units), and should be required to rent to the first qualified applicant (some jurisdictions call this “first in time”).
Cap move-in costs and fees. Often, tenants can be required to pay as much as two or three months’ rent in order to move into a new place, when factoring in the security deposit, first and often last months’ rent, and application fees. The total amount required to move into a new unit (including security deposit, any application fees, and first month’s rent) should be no more than two months’ rent. In other words, to move into a unit that rents at $1,200/month, you should be required to pay no more than $2,400 to move in, including all fees and your deposit.
Regulate security deposits. Some landlords use their tenants’ security deposits to finance risky investments, often to illegal ends. This should not be possible. Spokane could require security deposits to be held in trust in an interest-bearing escrow account within 30 days of payment. Then return of the deposit, including interest, less any deductions, should be required within 30 days after the tenancy ends. Landlords should also be required to provide a written summary of any deductions.
Require notice of rent increases. Seattle requires notice of at least 6 months prior to a rent increase. Even a less stringent standard, such as 3 months of notice, would make a significant difference for Spokane renters. If the rent increase is greater than 10% on its own or combined over a 12-month period, a landlord should be required to provide relocation assistance to cover moving costs.
Require a base housing quality standard. No one should have to live in uncomfortable or unlivable conditions. The City should require landlords to start certain repairs within a reasonable amount of time after a written request. For example, if water, electricity, or heat aren’t working, a repair should begin within 24 hours of receiving a request.
Stabilize rents. Rent control is banned in Washington State, but the Legislature could fix that in the next session. For example, the state could mandate that rents may increase by no more than a certain percentage, plus inflation, in a given year. Oregon passed a similar law in 2019 which allows increases of no more than 7% + inflation in a 12-month period. Certain newer units (typically those built within the last 15 years), as well as units constructed with government subsidy, are exempted. This is a fairly “middle-ground” approach, likely to pass constitutional muster and also mitigate opposition.
This housing project is located adjacent to a light rail station and has no parking. Removing parking requirements makes housing more affordable, since every parking stall costs between $30,000-$70,000 depending on type. (Photo courtesy of SMR Architects/Artspace)
Further Zoning Changes
Finally, there are further zoning changes that the City could make to continue to make housing development (and thus housing costs and rents!) more affordable.
Abolish parking requirements. Parking takes up valuable land that could be used for housing. For example, two parking spaces (plus associated circulation space) take up about as much space as a two-bedroom apartment. We are losing housing by requiring parking. And the perverse thing is that because low-income people are among the least likely in our community to own a car or drive, the people most harmed by parking requirements are low-income people. Let’s just abolish them. We should prioritize housing for people, not cars.
Allow small-scale commercial within residential neighborhoods. Made With Love Bakery, Doyle’s, Rocket Market, the Grain Shed, and Rockwood Bakery are beloved neighborhood businesses, and we make it far too difficult to open these types of establishments. At the same time, too many neighborhoods still lack the types of amenities it would take to develop a “15-minute” community. The city could allow “accessory commercial units” (ACUs), similar to ADUs, in neighborhood areas as a way to allow low-impact commercial (think coffee shops, bakeries, or a small taproom) to increase amenities, services, and gathering spaces. This would also build on similar efforts passed in 2018 to “reactivate” existing neighborhood commercial structures.
Require affordability. Many municipalities require inclusion of affordable units in all new development, or, in some cases, a payment in-lieu which is deposited into the city’s housing trust fund. Called “mandatory inclusionary zoning,” this tactic is imperfect, as it may increase the cost of market-rate housing, but it does subsidize the development of new, below-market rate units. If Spokane adopts affordability requirements, it should calibrate the program carefully and create a strong plan for below-market housing development.
Incentivize SROs. In the 1900s, single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels exploded across downtown Spokane as the city grew to accommodate tens of thousands of railway workers and miners. These spaces often include a small bedroom (sometimes with an ensuite bathroom), and all kitchen, laundry, and other “high-intensity” facilities are shared with other residents on a floor-by-floor basis. Think dorm rooms. Because they are more compact, rents can be incredibly cheap—sometimes less than $500 per month. SROs are actually allowed in many cases under Spokane’s development code, but we should incentivize their development as a way to address our affordable housing crisis and potentially even sharply reduce homelessness.
Allow point-access blocks. A point-access block, simply put, is a residential building with one staircase instead of two. Instead of an apartment building with units off of both sides of a long corridor, you might have a single staircase with doors off to both sides at each landing. The result is a building that is much more space-efficient (since less space is taken up by stairs and hallways), and thus in many cases less expensive. But there’s also a huge livability benefit: these types of units are often larger, with more two- and three-bedroom units, and they typically have a lot more natural light and cross-ventilation. Point-access blocks are not allowed in most communities, but they’re making a comeback. Spokane should allow PABs across the city to unleash the European housing virtuous cycle!
So, let’s keep organizing. Let’s keep pushing for housing justice, for tenant protections, and for further zoning changes across our city. Let’s keep advocating with City Council, with the mayor, with the state, and with other leaders.
It’s time for transformative change. This agenda — and other actions — can help us get there.