9/22/2022
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The Spokesman-Review
CITY’S HOUSING HEAD WILL STEP DOWN BY END OF MONTH
THE PROOF IS IN THE NUMBERS: 988 WILL SAVE LIVES
KREM
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The Spokesman-Review
CITY’S HOUSING HEAD WILL STEP DOWN BY END OF MONTH
By Kip Hill and Colin Tiernan
THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
The man hired less than three months ago to lead Spokane’s housing, homelessness and community development initiatives is leaving the job at the end of September.
John E. Hall III will depart Sept. 30 for a job on the East Coast, said Brian Coddington, spokesman for Mayor Nadine Woodward. He was hired in June to lead the city’s Neighborhood, Housing and Human Services division, part of Woodward’s plan to bring stability to an office that had experienced frequent turnover.
Jenn Cerecedes, director of the Community, Housing and Human Services department, will serve as interim division director for the first two weeks of October. The position will then be filled on an interim basis by Eric Finch, who had served as head of the division prior to Hall’s hiring.
Hall informed the mayor’s office in a Sept. 14 letter that he would be leaving. The housing division, and the Spokane City Council, were informed of his departure in an email Wednesday by Spokane City Administrator Johnnie Perkins.
“It is disappointing. John’s a great individual,” Coddington said Wednesday afternoon. “He has extensive knowledge in the area of housing in particular. It’s going to be a big loss for the city.”
Spokane City Council President Breean Beggs also called Hall’s departure as a major loss for the city and said he enjoyed working with him during the last two months.
Coddington said there was no timeline for naming a permanent replacement for Hall, but the importance of the position at City Hall makes naming his successor “a priority.”
Hall’s departure is just the latest in a series of staffing woes at City Hall in the department directly tasked with providing housing options for those without shelter in Spokane. That’s an issue that has prompted the declaration of a housing emergency by Woodward and an ongoing, public dispute between the city and state departments of Transportation and Commerce over the continued presence of Camp Hope, a homeless encampment on state land in East Spokane where at least 600 people are camping.
Coddington said Hall’s departure had “nothing to do with” the unfolding conflict over the homeless encampment, noting Hall had “a great opportunity” elsewhere and that Woodward wished him well in his new position.
“It’s an opportunity for him to start his own department, related to housing and community development,” Coddington said. Hall had been “a key leader” in work to open the shelter at Trent Avenue, intended to provide safe, indoor housing for those who had been living at the Camp Hope encampment, Perkins said in his message. He had come to Spokane after serving as executive director of the Indianapolis Housing Agency and had two decades of relevant experience at the local, state and federal levels.
He had been selected by the Tacoma Housing Authority Board of Commissioners as its new executive director a year ago, but that board later rescinded its offer over allegations made about his comments during the interview process. The Tacoma board later agreed to a $300,000 settlement with Hall and apologized.
Hall was being paid an annual salary of $142,924 for his role at City Hall. Perkins did not say where Hall was leaving Spokane to work, only that it is “to build, launch, and lead a housing and community development department for a local government entity.”
Attempts to reach Hall for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Spokane has struggled to retain employees in Neighborhoods, Housing and Human Services for more than a year. The division has only existed as a separate entity since 2020, when the city bifurcated Neighborhoods and Business Services.
Coddington said that as of Wednesday, there were three vacancies in the city’s Community, Housing and Human Services department, which operates within the Neighborhoods, Housing and Human Services division.
Beggs said the city has “added some really good people” in the last year.
“We’re well-positioned to be successful,” he said, “but we really could use super strong senior leadership, and it’s going to be a loss not to have John, because he was definitely going to be that person for us.”
Hall was the second person to head Neighborhoods, Housing and Human Services. His predecessor, Cupid Alexander, worked for the city from November 2020 until his resignation in July 2021.
Alexander, who is Black, accused Perkins of racially discriminating against him. A city-hired investigator found no evidence of racial discrimination against Alexander. Kip Hill can be reached at (509) 459-5429 or at kiph@spokesman.com.
THE PROOF IS IN THE NUMBERS: 988 WILL SAVE LIVES
By Hannah Wesolowski
SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON POST
For too long, there hasn’t been an easy, safe way for someone experiencing suicidal thoughts or a mental health crisis to get immediate help. Fortunately, that appears to be changing thanks to 988.
988, which became available nationwide earlier this summer, is a dedicated number that anyone can contact for mental health, substance use and suicidal crises. When Congress and the Federal Communications Commission designated it as an emergency line in 2020, there were questions about why the number was needed and how effective it would be. But now, we have data to support the resource: Demand for help is high, and the number is giving thousands of people the assistance they need.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration estimated that contact volume to 988 will more than double in its first year. The latest data since the July 16 transition shows the number of contacts to 988 via call, text and chat in August increased 45% over August 2021 – an increase of 152,000 contacts. That is 152,000 more people getting help when they need it most.
This significant increase in contacts has occurred even before there has been any wide-scale public awareness campaign to promote 988, so the number of contacts will probably continue to grow.
Fortunately, in the lead-up to 988’s availability, call centers and state leaders rose to the challenge to meet the increased need. The average answer time across calls, texts and chats is decreasing, and answer rates are increasing, with 20 states answering more than 90% of instate calls in August compared with just seven in January.
This has real benefits. 988 connects people with trained crisis counselors who can actively engage callers and resolve crises over the phone. This reduces the need for an in-person response, which has historically been conducted by law enforcement (contributing to high rates of incarceration of people with mental illness).
Research has repeatedly shown that receiving support over the phone can reduce suicide risk. It can also help connect people with more mental health services to get well and stay well.
988’s success gives us a historic opportunity to reimagine how we respond to people in a mental health crisis, and it couldn’t be more timely. The United States is in the midst of a mental health emergency. American adults are experiencing a threefold increase in symptoms of anxiety and depression compared with 2019. One American dies by suicide every 11 minutes.
The stats for our youth are especially dire. The number of adolescents going to emergency departments with suspected suicide attempts has skyrocketed, increasing by more than 31% between 2019 and 2021. At my organization, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, we witness daily what the human impact of these numbers is on individuals, families, friends and communities across our country.
As we mark Suicide Prevention Awareness Month this month, we owe it to our loved ones and our communities to recognize the urgent need and unprecedented opportunity we have in front of us. With the transition to 988 to access mental health and suicide emergency care, we have the potential to fundamentally transform our crisis response and save lives – but only if we continue to act.
Indeed, our work is just beginning. We need to build a full continuum of crisis services around 988 in every community. Every call, text or chat needs to be answered by a local call center with culturally competent resources. And for those who need more help, there should be an in-person mental health crisis response team available to provide appropriate, safe and effective care.
Far too often, we’ve seen mental health initiatives begin with great promise, only to fall short due to the lack of investment. 988 is a huge step forward, but we can’t stop halfway when lives are on the line. With continued investment and focus, 988 can be transformative.
Right now, mental health is a bright spot of policy cooperation and bipartisanship. In the 2021 budget, the lifeline received just $24 million. That investment has grown to more than $250 million in 2022, and President Joe Biden has requested nearly $700 million for 988 and crisis services in 2023.
That money would not only help build up 988 capacity but also support a full crisis continuum of care.
The challenge is to build on the success of the 988 rollout, both at the federal and state levels. This effort will prevent more lives from being tragically lost every day. We can and must provide the hope of a brighter tomorrow for anyone who is struggling.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. Hannah Wesolowski is chief advocacy officer of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
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KREM
The city's fire marshal is demanding the tent be removed by Thursday at 4 p.m, but JHH Executive Director Julie Garcia says the tent will stay up.
SPOKANE, Wash. — The City of Spokane has put Jewels Helping Hands (JHH) on notice to remove the cooling tent set up at the homeless encampment near I-90 and Freya. However, JHH told KREM 2 they have no plans to remove the tent.
Execute director Julie Garcia said the tent has grown beyond its original use of operating as a cooling tent.
Now, it's a place for housing resources and support.
"It brings them out of their tents, it brings them into some kind of community structure," Garcia said. "What we're trying to replicate is what service would look like, say they were downtown, how do you get to the services that you need? So this has been that kind of tent, they have to come across the street to get help, they have to come over here to get food, they have to sign up and participate to be able to access those services. And that's what this tent provides.”
Garcia said she plans to offer budgeting, employment expectations and trauma management classes starting Monday.
“We would like to create something that teaches them how to maintain that housing once they get it," Garcia said. "So we don't continue these hamster wheel cycles of getting housing, losing housing. So we're doing responsible renting, we're doing budgeting, we're doing a trauma management.”
Garcia said she's tired of service providers getting caught in the middle of city and state politics.
"I want people to stop losing focus of what we're actually trying to do here with all this polarized politics, the city and the state," Garcia said. "What service providers in our community are trying to do is make it better for our whole community."
The city's fire marshal is demanding the tent be removed by this Thursday at 4 p.m. If it is not removed, a $536 fine will be issued every day it is occupied. KREM 2 independently confirmed this information with the Spokane Fire Department.
Jewels Helping Hands set up the tent on July 26, 2022. It has fans, misters, and air conditioners. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), the organization that owns the land, is aware of the cooling tent.
While the agency does not allow camping on its land, officials said they don't want someone to have a medical emergency on their property.
Julie Garcia, the executive director of JHH, told KREM 2 that the tent will remain open despite the letter from the city.
"We refused to participate in games that are a distraction from the work being done," she said.
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