homelessness

City leaders will need to come up with nearly $84,000 to cover the costs of winter shelters, and anticipate other weather emergencies that may happen this year.

Measures to protect renters, limit homeless encampments and boost affordable housing are so far receiving mixed support from voters in local elections around Washington.

The $750,000 pilot program operating in Spokane County has struggled to meet promises after state officials chose a lobbying firm to build the hotline service from scratch.

The emergency proposal said spending the federal Covid relief money on the Trent facility shelter was necessary “in order to bridge the gap” for a funding deficit. The money will pay for the privately-owned shelter into the new year.

Spokane's mayor says the 2018 ruling in Martin v. Boise has hampered the city's efforts to get unsheltered people into treatment and is putting significant pressure on the budget.

The bill would create two new grant programs. Funding from the grants would help pay for efforts to intervene before a youth or young adult becomes homeless, such as helplines or support groups for families.

A saga that began as a protest at Spokane’s city hall in December 2021, and later became Washington’s largest homeless encampment, ended Friday morning, when Camp Hope officially closed.

At its height this summer, Washington’s largest homeless encampment had an estimated population of more than 600. Since October, the population of Camp Hope has shrunk to fewer than 200.

At least 144 people experiencing homelessness in the Inland Northwest have died this year. Today the community gathered to remember them, and to call for compassion and understanding for those still living unhoused across the region.

In the wake of a temporary restraining order, Spokane city and county law enforcement say they’ll limit their activity at the state’s largest homeless encampment to only public safety calls.