Spokane prepares to move to scattered homeless shelter model

SPOKANE, Wash. -- The City of Spokane is moving forward with the plan to replace its largest shelter with multiple smaller shelters around the city.

The Trent Resource and Assistance Center near Trent Avenue and Havana Street, which has nearly 300 beds for those experiencing homelessness, is slated to close this fall.

In its absence, the city plans to establish five to eight scattered shelter sites that will each provide resources and care for 20-30 people.

Doug Trudeau, Neighborhood Council Chair for East Central, supports the plan. A few years ago, his neighborhood was the site of a large homeless encampment called Camp Hope.

"We have been home to a lot of that concentration and some of that has not done well in certain areas of our neighborhood, so we think having it not all concentrated to one area is a better approach for all neighborhoods in a city as a whole," said Trudeau.

The new scattered shelter model includes a housing navigation center, which acts as an entry point to assess the needs of every individual before selecting the most appropriate placement option for them.

Different shelter sites will also specialize in different resources.

Jewels Helping Hands, a homeless outreach organization, operates two centers that function as an example of the scattered site model.

The Cedar Center, located in the Garland District, specializes in providing services to medically fragile individuals.

Julie Garcia, founder of Jewels Helping Hands, said the center has a good relationship with the surrounding neighborhood and has been more cost-effective and efficient to run than a larger shelter.

Some community members have raised concerns over the feasibility of the project, but Garcia believes it can be successful if done properly.

"I believe this is doable. I believe it will take more community education and transparency for neighborhoods and churches to engage the idea of a shelter in their area," said Garcia.

Jake Bass lives at the Cedar Center and said it has given him a sense of belonging.

"It helps people get into a more steady environment and they are part of a community again, and that is what I look at this shelter as, a little community. We are all family here," said Bass.

The city will begin decommissioning the Trent Shelter in September.

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