Gov. Jay Inslee visits Crosswalk shelter in Spokane on Friday to acknowledge successes, needs to address youth homelessness

Alex Watson chose to walk away from his job last year because it was taking advantage of older people, charging them upwards of $50,000 to make a website.

The decision left the 24-year-old homeless on Spokane’s streets, Watson told Gov. Jay Inslee on Friday.

“At some point, I realized I’m having a hard time trusting other people with how to start my life,” Watson said at the Crosswalk shelter for youth in downtown Spokane.

The governor was on hand to hear from Watson and others about the resources available in Spokane as one of 10 communities that are part of an initiative aimed at reducing – and ultimately eliminating – homelessness for young Washingtonians.

“It looks to me like you’ve really got an alliance of multiple organizations,” Inslee said, speaking to young people staying at the shelter as well as representatives from Volunteers of America, the nonprofit that runs Crosswalk; the Spokane Youth Advisory Committee; A Way Home Washington; Better Health Together and other groups working to eliminate youth homelessness. “I’m glad we were successful in the Legislature to promote the growth of them.”

That includes an additional $2.5 million laid out to support the building of a new Crosswalk Youth Shelter adjacent to Spokane Community College on Mission Avenue in the Chief Garry neighborhood. Ground will be broken for that project in October, and it is slated to open in fall 2024. The proximity to the college is by design, allowing young people staying at the shelter ages 13 to 21 to attend classes near where they’re receiving support.

It was also a request of those youth served at the shelter. A major component of the work of A Way Home Washington, the group that launched the anchor communities initiative, is to focus on what young people say they need, officials said.

“We wouldn’t be able to identify the barriers and issues that we see in our system, and we wouldn’t be able to identify strategic plans to address that without the experiences of young people, who have actually walked through that,” said Julius Henrichsen, prevention and diversion training manager for A Way Home Washington.

Local data suggest s homelessness affects Spokane residents of all ages. The annual Point in Time count numbers released by the city on Thursday showed that 18%, or about one in five, of the 2,390 people counted as homeless in January were under the age of 25.

The initiative has produced particular success with a pool of money that can be rapidly spent to assist young people at risk of becoming homeless. This Homelessness Prevention and Diversion Fund has been used to people in 306 households in Spokane County since August 2020, paying for things like application feeds, housing deposits, transportation and utility costs, and the median amount of time needed for approval, according to the organization’s own public data.

Watson said stipends were particularly helpful while living at a shelter and trying to set up a new company with a business partner, called Dot Connect, that is intended to help those with poor computer skills learn about potential scams and threats – the same type of people who were taken advantage of at Watson’s previous job.

“It was my aspiration to say, I want to do something that’s beneficial,” Watson said. “There’s clearly a market for older people who want to engage with the internet.”

Trudi Inslee, the governor’s wife, was enthusiastic about the idea.

“Sign us up,” she said, to laughter.

Inslee said input like Watson’s would help inform the state’s efforts in reducing youth homelessness throughout Washington.

“We got huge legislative support for this issue, and I know in part it’s because of the young people advocating,” the governor said.

We got huge legislative support for this issue, and I know in part it’s because of the young people advocating.” Jay Inslee, Washington state governor