‘The door is open’: New homeless shelter opens in Emerson/Garfield, as arena site shuts down

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.

While STA buses transported residents from the arena to the new shelter at 55 W. Mission Ave., staff from the city and the Salvation Army were working Thursday to put the finishing touches on the new space, hauling in supplies and cleaning up the outside of the building to make it suitable for its new occupants.

The Salvation Army will operate the new shelter, and Spokane County is working to purchase the $2 million building from the Spokane Housing Authority.

In the few weeks since local governments and nonprofits came to an agreement to purchase, remodel and operate the Mission Avenue building as a shelter, contractors have knocked out walls and set up an intake area and private rooms to isolate and test anyone with COVID-19 symptoms.

Lines of green cots were set up throughout the large room, which until recently was used as offices for housing assistance.

City spokesman Brian Coddington said the shelter’s purchase and opening Thursday should offer a stable place for the homeless population during the pandemic and should help end the cycle of moving people from place to place as leases expire and construction occurs.

The city previously housed the homeless at a shelter on Cannon Street and at the Spokane Public Library, which has been closed to patrons due to planned construction. The city then closed those two shelters and moved them into the Arena, though it only had a 90-day contract to run a shelter there.

Though the city has managed the contracts and operations for the shelter, Coddington said it is a collaborative project between Spokane County, the Spokane Regional Health District and the city of Spokane. The city of Spokane Valley is assisting with a related project, a youth shelter that will be located in Spokane Valley.

By Thursday afternoon, most of the work required to transform the former Housing Authority building into a shelter were complete, except for the bathrooms.

Contractors built a temporary wall to block off the existing bathrooms so they can construct new restrooms and showers without disturbing people staying at the new facility. Those bathrooms will be completed later in the fall. Meanwhile, those staying at the shelter will need to use portable toilets and a mobile shower.

Major Ken Perrine of the Spokane Salvation Army said there will be room for 102 people to stay in the shelter when social distancing is taken into account.

He said Salvation Army staff will mostly use the main floor of the building and the parking lot out front during the next several months. But once the COVID-19 crisis eases, he said, the Salvation Army will use the basement floor to offer long-term private rooms for people to stay in while accessing services, job training and housing assistance.

Until the pandemic is resolved, the shelter will operate in an emergency capacity and anyone who needs a place to stay, and can follow the safety rules, is welcome. In the future, the shelter will operate as a “bridge housing” program, where people staying there are referred by other agencies and shelters and must be participating in programs that will help them remove any barriers that prevent them from finding or keeping stable housing.

“We accept them just the way they are,” Perrine said. “If they need the help, the door is open for them to be here. But we do have rules.”

When the county voted to purchase the shelter, some neighbors were outraged by the quick decision and expressed concern about an increase in homelessness, crime and drug use and a reduction in property values in their neighborhood.

Perrine said the Salvation Army has a security plan and rules in place to address any inappropriate behavior. He also noted the group has operated safe and orderly shelters elsewhere.

“The Salvation Army has been here in Spokane for 130 years, and we’ve always strived to be a good neighbor to the folks around us,” he said. “We will continue to do that.”

He said those staying in the shelter likely were already in the neighborhood and the shelter will give them a safe place to go.

“The homeless were already here. What this facility does is offer a safe place for everybody to stay,” he said. “The Salvation Army will do its best to move those people forward in life.”

Though the long-term plan to offer in-depth housing services and training are months away, Perrine said the Salvation Army is working to bring on counselors and others who can provide on-site job and housing services to those staying at the shelter.