Reformed homelessness law effectiveness is reflected in data, mayor tells council

It’s been one week since Spokane’s implementation of a stricter homelessness law – and the method is yielding more police citations and connections to resources, Mayor Lisa Brown said in a Monday email to City Council.

Since its implementation, officers have issued 83 citations and have provided transportation to the city’s navigation center, Brown’s email said. The “navigation center” is the city’s central facility where homeless people can start before they are sent to a shelter or housing service.

One-third of people offered services by police in the last week accepted those services, Brown stated in her email. It’s a big change, going from zero citations in months to dozens in a week, Councilman Jonathan Bingle said.

Toughening restrictions on where and when unhoused people can sit, sleep or loiter has been Bingle’s goal.

Following criticisms from business owners that city laws were toothless, the new law was passed unanimously Oct. 27.

“I think it has been implemented very well. I am hearing from the community that it has been a much-needed policy, and to see it put into action, I think is giving people a lot of hope for the future,” Bingle said at a news conference Monday. “I think one of my more proud moments on council is to be able to look at my fellow council members and say, ‘We did a really good thing together.’ ”

In September, four street-based teams comprising social workers from Catholic Charities formed as part of the city’s HOME initiative. The public can call 311 or file a report online when they see people in need of housing assistance that will prompt a real-time dispatch of the outreach teams.

The goal is to respond to homeless camps or illegal camping and connect people to housing resources. The team documents what they see and attempts to connect people to housing or mental health services, previous reporting from The Spokesman-Review states.

Those teams have directed 99 people into services out of the 106 people they contacted in the first 10 days of the teams’ operations. In the last month, the teams connect ed with more than 250 people, Brown said. The navigation center, run by nonprofit Jewels Helping Hands in coordination with Providence, has seen nearly 700 visits in its first week of operation, according to Brown’s email.

“I’ve heard from a number of business owners that downtown looks great, and when they’re calling, action is being taken much faster. It’s not taking weeks to get things done,” Bingle said. “I think the data is there. I think the anecdotes are there. Could not be happier.”

Brown initiated a citywide emergency on Wednesday, mostly as a response to the Trump administration cutting SNAP benefits during the federal shutdown. But she also sought the emergency in part because Brown believes more unhoused people will be seeking shelter as the weather gets colder, and they are more likely to be contacted by outreach teams under the Safe and Accessible Spaces model.

As it stands, the city has 867 total shelter beds and 988 beds when there is inclement weather, according to city Neighborhood, Housing, and Human Services Director Dawn Kinder. To utilize inclement weather beds in the fall and winter, outside temperature must be 32 degrees or colder.