First Camp Hope residents move to Catalyst Project’s supportive housing program

The Catalyst Project, a former Quality Inn converted into supportive housing in the West Hills Neighborhood, began accepting its first residents Thursday.

Four people who had been living in Camp Hope arrived to their new temporary homes, followed by another four Friday, said Dawn Kinder, chief stabilization officer for Catholic Charities Eastern Washington.

Twenty to 25 people are expected to arrive each week going forward until the building is full, all of them referred by peer navigators at Camp Hope. Up to 120 people could fit in the building’s 84 rooms, depending on how many couples are referred to the program, Kinder said.

It’s a major step toward a new transition between homeless shelters and permanent housing, Kinder added.

“We don’t have anything like this in the community right now,” she said. “We’ve got shelters, and we’ve got housing, and we don’t really have anything in between those two options.”

The facility will not only provide temporary housing with private bedrooms and bathrooms, but laundry rooms and three meals a day.

Every floor of the building has office spaces for mental and behavioral health specialists, case workers and other staff, meant to provide service to prepare residents for life after Catalyst.

Though there is no time limit for residents, the hope is to efficiently provide them with the resources needed to help them get on their feet, become employed and into permanent housing.

As rooms become available, residents from Camp Hope will be admitted by referral until that encampment is emptied. The camp that sprung from a protest of the city of Spokane’s homelessness response is on state land along Interstate 90 in the East Central Neighborhood.

“Once that camp is cleared, we’ll be able to shift and figure out where we can best serve the system at that point,” Kinder said.