Gavin Cooley and Fawn Schott: HB 2489 raises serious concerns for Spokane in the age of fentanyl

Spokane has begun to make real progress in addressing the visible street-level impacts of addiction and homelessness. Conditions downtown and in surrounding neighborhoods are changing, and more people are being connected to services than before. That progress is strong but fragile. House Bill 2489 threatens to reverse it.

As leaders representing a shelter provider and the business community, we share a deep commitment to compassion, dignity and safety for people experiencing homelessness, and to the overall health and stability of the community. At Volunteers of America, we work directly with individuals whose lives are being shaped – and too often ended – by fentanyl; at the Spokane Business Association, we work with employers and neighborhoods struggling with its visible impacts on public spaces and economic life. That combined experience informs our concern with House Bill 2489.

In the age of fentanyl, the window to prevent harm and save lives is short, and House Bill 2489 creates a threefold problem.

First, it prevents engagement altogether unless a narrowly defined shelter option is immediately available at the exact time and place of contact – even when people are living in dangerous or degrading conditions.

Second, it defines that shelter so narrowly and at such a low-barrier threshold that cities are pushed toward models they cannot afford or sustain – an approach Spokane already tried and had to abandon when it proved ineffective and unaffordable. The bill provides no funding to build or operate these shelters, yet makes local action dependent on their existence.

Third, even when such shelter is made available, the result is a system that stabilizes crisis without resolving it. It delays meaningful intervention and directs people into settings that offer safety without treatment, structure or a pathway forward.

The system laid out by House Bill 2489 does not preserve safety. It leaves individuals in unsafe environments or stalled in addiction and, too often, with fatal consequences. People should not be criminalized for trying to survive, but shelter must be a bridge, not an endpoint, and compassion must include responsibility to interrupt harm and move people toward treatment and stability.

Spokane’s current approach has evolved through hard experience. Large, low-barrier, voluntary models resulted in significant encampments, visible suffering and unacceptable loss of life. As overdose deaths rose, it became clear that the system was not offering enough pathways out of crisis.

In response, Spokane shifted course – pairing compassionate enforcement with investments in smaller, more intentional shelter options, navigation, stabilization services and treatment connections. The goal is not punishment or displacement. The goal is timely engagement that creates an opportunity for help before harm becomes irreversible.

We can all see the progress – there are clear, visible signs to anyone driving through downtown Spokane and surrounding neighborhoods that conditions on the street have improved since the mayor and City Council passed the new ordinance last October: fewer encampments, fewer open scenes of addiction and fewer people living long-term in highly dangerous public spaces.

Frontline responders and service providers report seeing the same shift. Conversations with Navigation Center staff and outreach teams indicate that more individuals are accepting referrals and entering service pathways than they were before the city adopted its new ordinance. Law enforcement leadership also report increased connections to community court, a therapeutic court designed to link people with services rather than leave them stuck in crisis.

While Spokane’s work is ongoing, the visible changes in public spaces combined with these on-the-ground observations point to a system that is clearly producing better outcomes than Spokane’s previous voluntary approaches. House Bill 2489 risks undoing that progress.

Like many other cities, Spokane’s crisis has been shaped by fentanyl’s rapid spread, limited treatment capacity and highly visible street-level impacts. Our response has been informed by what we have seen fail locally and by lessons from other cities that are also struggling with fentanyl. At the same time, each community faces different conditions on the ground, and preserving local flexibility has allowed cities like Spokane to tailor their responses with care, accountability and effectiveness.

As a shelter provider and a business organization, we believe the path forward is not weaker tools, but better ones – defending the direction Spokane’s elected leadership has set and refusing to abandon new policies that are restoring public safety, connecting people to services and saving lives.

Fawn Schott is president and chief executive officer at Volunteers of America of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. She resides in Spokane County. Gavin Cooley is director of strategic initiatives at Spokane Business Association. He lives in Spokane.