SPOKANE, Wash. — The City of Spokane has put Jewels Helping Hands (JHH) on notice to remove the cooling tent set up at the homeless encampment near I-90 and Freya. However, JHH told KREM 2 they have no plans to remove the tent.
Execute director Julie Garcia said the tent has grown beyond its original use of operating as a cooling tent.
Now, it's a place for housing resources and support.
"It brings them out of their tents, it brings them into some kind of community structure," Garcia said. "What we're trying to replicate is what service would look like, say they were downtown, how do you get to the services that you need? So this has been that kind of tent, they have to come across the street to get help, they have to come over here to get food, they have to sign up and participate to be able to access those services. And that's what this tent provides.”
Garcia said she plans to offer budgeting, employment expectations and trauma management classes starting Monday.
“We would like to create something that teaches them how to maintain that housing once they get it," Garcia said. "So we don't continue these hamster wheel cycles of getting housing, losing housing. So we're doing responsible renting, we're doing budgeting, we're doing a trauma management.”
Garcia said she's tired of service providers getting caught in the middle of city and state politics.
"I want people to stop losing focus of what we're actually trying to do here with all this polarized politics, the city and the state," Garcia said. "What service providers in our community are trying to do is make it better for our whole community."
The city's fire marshal is demanding the tent be removed by this Thursday at 4 p.m. If it is not removed, a $536 fine will be issued every day it is occupied. KREM 2 independently confirmed this information with the Spokane Fire Department.
Jewels Helping Hands set up the tent on July 26, 2022. It has fans, misters, and air conditioners. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), the organization that owns the land, is aware of the cooling tent.
While the agency does not allow camping on its land, officials said they don't want someone to have a medical emergency on their property.
Julie Garcia, the executive director of JHH, told KREM 2 that the tent will remain open despite the letter from the city.
"We refused to participate in games that are a distraction from the work being done," she said.
This is a developing news story and we will provide more updates as we receive them.
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