Catholic Charities CEO Rob McCann says his organization is contemplating a big transition.
In a white paper to current and former Catholic Charities donors, McCann writes about the changes he’s seen in the people who live on the streets in Spokane. For the last 24 years, the agency has served that population at its downtown House of Charity.
The changes became clear to him one winter night when he was visiting Camp Hope, the former homeless encampment in east Spokane. He was there to help people find respite from the cold.
“We had open beds at the House of Charity and I walked through that camp and I went, literally, tent-to-tent, tarp-to-tarp, and said, ‘Hey, my name’s Rob. I’m with Catholic Charities. We’ve got beds at the House of Charity tonight. I can put you in the van right now and bring you there,'" he said.
"To a person, they said, ‘No, I’m not going to the House of Charity. I’m not going to Trent shelter. I’m not going to UGM. I’m not going to Salvation Army. I’m not going into any shelter where I’m sleeping in a room with 200 other people and their coughing and sneezing and screaming in their sleep," he said.
McCann says that was his ‘ah-ha’ moment. He realized Catholic Charities needed to do something differently if it wanted to effectively serve that population. Soon, the organization began work to remodel a hotel on Sunset Hill and turn it into the Catalyst supportive housing project. It had the support of the state, but it was controversial with the neighbors. It riled residents in the West Hills who didn’t want a bunch of drug-addicted people roaming around near their homes.
McCann said that was a difficult time. But a year-and-a-half after the project opened, he says attitudes, at least among some, have changed.
“What the neighbors will tell you is this is the best the neighborhood’s been in 10 years. Crime has gone down. Drug use, prostitution, violent crime, assault, murder, has all gone away since Quality Inn closed and you guys took over," he said.
"I’ve had several of the neighbors right around Catalyst who have said, ‘Hey, there’s a couple of other motels on the street. Could you buy them and do the same thing?’ These are the same folks that were very angry and upset before we opened.”
McCann says Catalyst has not only won over some of the neighbors, it has also proven to be popular among current and potential residents.
“The next time I walked through Camp Hope and I knocked on tents and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got beds at the House of Charity for you.’ And people said the same thing, nope, nope. But this time it was different," he said.
"Now that Catalyst is open, about 20 minutes through my walk in that camp, a bunch of people came up to me and said, ‘You were just at my tent. You’re the Catalyst guy too, aren’t you?’ And I said yes, I am. And they said could we please have a place at Catalyst. Everyone in that camp wanted to move to Catalyst. None of them wanted to go to the House of Charity or Trent shelter. That is something that we need to take stock of," he said.
McCann says the only way that model works is by creating comfortable places where people can have their own spaces with the services they need, such as substance abuse counseling, right there. He’s optimistic that the current mayor and her administration are interested, but it comes down to money at a time when the city’s finances are tenuous.
If the city and/or funding sources say they’ll help, McCann knows future projects will run into the same resistance that Catalyst faced.
“We’re never going to have a day where we are able to site and build anything without some level of anxiety amongst the neighbors. Let’s be honest. We’re in Spokane, Washington. This is a community that goes to blood sport battle over siting a dog park or a Chick-fil-A. Imagine how hard it’s going to be to site a homeless shelter. Virtually impossible, no matter where we go. We’re going to run into lots of questions and lots of fear and we’re going to do our best to mitigate those," he said.
But McCann draws comfort from the reaction to his white paper that went to tens of thousands of households in the Spokane area.
“I thought we were for sure going to get some backlash from our own supporters and we have not gotten a single email or a single call in that vein. It’s been the exact opposite, people saying I’m so glad you’re doing this. This is smart. This is smart thinking.”
