(The Center Square) – With $1.8 million left to spend, Spokane may extend Mayor Lisa Brown’s scattered-site shelter pilot program through September as city staff search for more funding.
Spokane launched its scattered-site shelter model in October, two months after the city council approved a $3.85 million contract without a location. Brown announced the initiative shortly after taking office in 2024, hoping to provide a more humane way to house those living on the street.
Currently, a housing navigation center acts as a funnel. Individuals are referred to the Canon Street Shelter, set up with roughly 30 beds, then introduced to other service providers for housing, opioid treatment and other resources rather than using a congregate-style shelter.
The council handed the reins over to Empire Health Foundation when it approved the funding, meaning EHF largely controls the model. It can sign contracts with providers using the money from the council, but that funding pool is running dry, leaving EHF in a tight spot with providers.
“Things that we’ve talked about with both CHHS and with the providers is really, again, thinking about this as a pilot year,” EHF President Zeke Smith told the council on Monday. “What has worked and what hasn’t worked, and what that means for the development of the system.”
Smith said they’re running out of money from the state’s encampment resolution program that helps fund the model. He noted that there’s still enough to cover some housing projects but not for the street outreach and other services dedicated to resolving and clearing encampments.
The Community, Housing and Human Services Department wants to extend EHF’s contract through September. The existing agreement expires at the end of June, so CHHS asked to pull from the $1.8 million in federal COVID-19 relief already allocated toward the shelter model.
CHHS Director Arielle Anderson said they don’t anticipate using the full $1.8 million, but it will get them through September as they request more funding from the state. Smith noted that EHF’s role within the model could cease to exist once that runs out without another contract.
“I know Empire Health Foundation has provided a lot of additional supportive services to the providers, so it will be interesting,” Council President Betsy Wilkerson said. “I’m just concerned where those additional supports will land. We know many of them are fairly new in this space.”
Anderson said the city anticipates receiving more funding from the state, but the future of the scattered model remains unclear. Spokane recently signed an agreement with Spokane Valley and the county to coordinate around homelessness and related funding so their voices may enter the fold.
Smith said the scattered site model fostered a greater sense of community, inspiring faith-based groups to offer properties to help those struggling on the streets. EHF has opened several shelters and care facilities with providers over the past few months, which it hopes to continue supporting.
EHF will present a metrics report to the council in September to go over the results of the pilot program. While many see the scattered site model as a more humane approach to mitigating homelessness, others criticize the initiative as the crisis remains visually present around the city.
“Scattered sites, I think, is an open question that we’re still we still got to work through,” Smith said. “But I do think that there hopefully is opportunity to engage them in a number of ways … but the coordination for that and ensuring that it fits within the expectations and what the city and community is looking for, I think, requires some work.”
