Officials asked to help Otis residents

A developer planning to buy low-income apartments downtown is asking city and county officials to pay to keep the building open so tenants have time to find a place to move.

Developer Chris Batten told city council members on Thursday that unless the city commits to his proposal, residents of the Otis Hotel on Tuesday likely will be sent eviction notices.

Some Spokane City Council members expressed support for Batten’s proposal, saying it was the only plan that guaranteed Otis residents a place to live, at least in the short term.

Batten proposed that the city pay up to $180,000 to help cover costs and that the county pay up to $220,000. Batten has pledged $50,000 from his company, plus any costs over projections.

RenCorp is planning to execute a sales agreement soon to buy the Otis, Batten said.

City Council President Joe Shogan said residents of the Otis would be forced to move by Aug. 1.

The Otis has 167 units, 107 of which are occupied. RenCorp plans to renovate the Otis into new apartments. Some units will be reserved for poor or middle-class tenants, Batten said.

Officials say that it will be difficult to find new places to live for many at the Otis, in part because several have criminal records, including some with sex offenses.

The Otis is part of a strip of old residential buildings along West First Avenue that are about to be redeveloped, creating what some call a crisis in low-income housing.

Tenants of the Commercial Building recently were evicted to make way for a manufacturing plant. Residents of the New Madison Apartments will be evicted this month to allow RenCorp to convert the building into mixed-income apartments.

Councilwoman Mary Verner called Batten’s proposal “very generous.”

But Shogan questioned whether the city should use its resources on a short-term solution.

“I am not happy that all of a sudden this is a city problem,” Shogan said. “It’s a developer problem too.”

Shogan has proposed allocating $250,000 to a social service agency that could distribute it as direct aid to folks needing new places to live.

The money could be used for first-month rent, moving expenses and other costs.

Batten said he approached city staff about helping find new low-income housing when he first considered buying the building a year ago. But the city didn’t respond until the “11th hour,” he said.

“This is not a developer problem. This is not a city problem,” Batten said. “This is a community problem.”

He said that under his plan, Catholic Charities would devote an employee to place Otis tenants into new housing.

“Otherwise, you’re going to have all these folks out on the street and I don’t think anybody wants that,” said Tobby Hatley, a member of the city’s Community Development Board, who was hired by RenCorp to do communications consulting on the project.