Seventeen people have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Open Doors Homeless Shelter in east Spokane, essentially turning the facility into a quarantine site and forcing the remaining residents to other sites.

The city of Spokane opened the region’s newest homeless shelter Thursday, just hours before the lease for the Spokane Arena – where more than 100 people were staying – was set to expire at midnight.

As local governments move forward with plans to launch a new shelter in the Emerson/Garfield Neighborhood, it is being met with opposition from some residents who fear its impacts on area businesses and public safety .

The outline presented by Woodward to the Spokane City Council includes plans for regional collaboration with Spokane County and Spokane Valley. In addition to an emergency shelter, the city is looking to establish a "bridge shelter" that would require a referral and work to get people in their own housing. 

A new law will prevent the city of Spokane from closing a homeless shelter in which beds are occupied unless it has a replacement plan or shows there is vacancy elsewhere.

Spokane homeless shelters say a proposed federal rule change limiting protections for transgender guests will not alter how they operate.

The Spokane Arena is slated to become Spokane’s next homeless shelter on Saturday when the Guardians Foundation vacates the downtown Spokane Public Library and Cannon Street shelters, according to Guardians CEO Mike Shaw.

All children are different, but this applies exponentially in the case of neurodiverse children. How they are impacted by COVID-19 and stay-home orders varies widely, and families are struggling to fill gaps where services and aide once was.

Maple Street Bistro on Friday catered lunch to 80 women and children at the Union Grace Mission Crisis Shelter for Women and Children in northeast Spokane.

British Prime Minster Boris Johnson has ordered the closure of most retail stores and banned gatherings for three in a stepped-up response to slow the new coronavirus.

New York state moved to join California on Friday in confining nearly all residents to their homes, as governors undertook their most sweeping efforts yet to contain the coronavirus and fend off the kind of onslaught of patients that has caused southern Europe to buckle.

Washington officials are considering more restrictions on residents to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, Gov. Jay Inslee said today.

Officials in six San Francisco Bay Area counties issued a shelter-in-place mandate on Monday affecting nearly 7 million people, including the city of San Francisco itself.

Spokane County is set to receive $29,937,000 from the capital budget for construction projects, including park restoration and shelter expansion services.

The Spokane City Council adopted a new contract with SCRAPS on Monday that would codify its relatively new policy of operating as a no-kill shelter.

This white and gray tabby cat, Cisco, is ready for his new home. Refer to the pet’s ID number when contacting SCRAPS with questions about one of the adoptable pets. If you are interested in this dog or any animal there, call (509) 477-2532 or visit the shelter at 6815 E. Trent Ave. in Spokane Valley. Dog adoptions cost $120 and include spay or neuter, the first set of vaccinations (including rabies) health check, microchip and first year’s license.

Shadow is all about having fun, SCRAPS said

George the German shepherd knows how to sit and shake hands, and his big brown eyes make him especially photogenic – so much that a front-page picture of George in a Spokesman-Review story about dogs that have stayed at SCRAPS the longest garnered around 50 adoption inquiries. The article featured four other dogs, yet George was the star.

After receiving dozens of calls on shelter favorite dog George, SCRAPS will host a meet-and-greet for the German shepherd who has spent more the six months at the shelter.