Chris Corry: When it comes to homelessness, home is where the healing is
By Chris Corry
“Compassion without accountability is enablement.” That quote has stuck with me since I had the privilege of working with former federal homelessness czar Robert Marbut and actor Billy Baldwin in Spokane two weeks ago.
The two were in town to meet with various groups interested in addressing the growing problem of homelessness in Spokane.
While homelessness is not unique to Spokane, the growing problem in the area has made international news.
It has had tremendous impacts on the community, increasing crime, straining emergency services and closing businesses.
This issue is top of mind for many residents.
In 2023, they resoundingly passed Proposition 1 to expand camping bans in the city.
Proposition 1 has been met with hostility by city officials and outside interest groups looking to prevent its enforcement.
During our tour downtown, we came across a homeless man who had overdosed in the drive-thru of a Starbucks that was forced to close.
His friends had given him Narcan, but it didn’t work. They called 911, and medics administered another dose of Narcan and were able to revive him after his heart had stopped.
He was lucky this time. But how long until it happens again?
As we watched him being put in an ambulance for evaluation at the hospital, a local worker from the treatment center next door came out to clean up the vomit and discarded medical supplies. The look on her face expressed the hopelessness many feel about this issue.
According to Marbut, the lifespan of someone using fentanyl is 18 months. The drug is unlike anything they have seen on the streets. Incredibly cheap at around a $1 a pill. It is easy to get in Spokane. Shockingly, during our tour, Marbut went into the 7-Eleven at Second Avenue and Division Street to get a drink and was asked if he wanted to buy fentanyl from a woman loitering in the store.
The purpose of their visit was to see the problem firsthand and offer evidence-based solutions to address the issue.
The first step is getting appropriate data. The current measures are based on asking the wrong questions, including determining the location of where the homeless come from.
Current data claims that a significant number (more than 80%) of homeless people are local. That is based, however, on surveyors asking what city they were in the night before becoming homeless or the night before being interviewed.
Asking a more probing series of questions, such as where you went to high school, can lead to more accurate data. This is important because research shows that, with the exception for domestic violence, the best place to treat and move people out of homelessness is in their local community. Communities that have engaged in this research have found that less than 50% of their homeless people come from within the community.
The good news is there is hope. Providing wrap-around services to treat the chronically homeless has demonstrated significantly better results than the current “housing first” model. It is imperative to treat the underlying mental and behavioral health and substance abuse in order to move someone into permanence successfully.
For example, Haven for Hope in San Antonio has dramatically reduced homelessness with trauma-informed, wrap-around care that helps individuals recover from trauma and deal with mental health and substance abuse issues. It serves 1,600 people a day on a campus that is supported by the community. It is successful not just in getting people off the streets but getting them on their feet permanently.
We are seeing successful programs locally. We had the opportunity to tour Catalyst and found a similar model working to fully address the needs of homeless individuals. At the Union Gospel Mission, we observed a peer support meeting for men moving from homelessness to permanency. For families, Family Promise of Spokane offers similar wrap-around services to ensure long-term stability.
Too much of the current practice and response is enablement, which is not compassionate to the people experiencing homelessness or the community. By properly documenting and measuring the problem, Spokane can begin to address the needs of the homeless and get them to the place best for their recovery. The city can serve as a model to Washington cities in ending and preventing chronic homelessness.
Chris Corry is the Eastern Washington director for Washington Policy Center and lives with his wife and children in Yakima. Members of the Cowles family, owners of The Spokesman-Review, have previously hosted fundraisers for the Washington Policy Center and sit on the organization’s board.