SPOKANE, Wash. — As Catholic Charities lays out its plan to buy the Quality Inn Hotel on Sunset Highway, more neighbors and business owners are speaking out against the project, including one developer who is putting plans to build more apartments in the area on hold.
Gib Brumback had big plans for the empty lot he bought several months ago: a five-story, 72 unit complex.
But, when Brumback found out what Catholic Charities planned to do with the hotel next door, he put the project on hold.
Brumback also owns the office building right next to the Quality Inn.
"This neighborhood is going to explode in positive growth which has not been here for literally two or three decades and it's happening right now and it may be stopping right now," Brumback said.
Catholic Charities is moving forward with plans to buy the Quality Inn and turn it into an emergency supportive housing community.
"It's really intended to quickly stabilize people, support them, hold them accountable and then help them exit into a permanent housing solution," Catholic Charities Chief Stabilization Officer Dawn Kinder said.
The project, called "The Catalyst," will have room for 100 homeless men and women. Some of them will come from the homeless camp near I-90 and Freya, ready to make a change in their lives, according to Catholic Charities. Residents will need to be referred from other service providers and will be screened and selected based on their likelihood of success in housing.
"This program does have accountability for residents and so if folks staying with us are not able to meet those participation and engagement requirements, we will be able to ask them to leave," Kinder said.
Catholic Charities is now waiting on a second round of funding from the Department of Commerce to retrofit the building, install a fence around the property and add more security cameras and lights in the parking lot.
"They can talk about fencing their property, fencing their property and what they are saying now; it means nothing to me," Brumback said.
Brumback says he was never given a heads up about the project. So does West Hills Neighborhood Council Vice Chair William Hagey.
"The word Catholic Charities entering into the arena has frightened so many people," Hagey said. "We had no indication any of this was happening, any of the residents, even the West Hills Neighborhood Council."
Catholic Charities says there's a reason for that. The owner of the hotel didn't want them talking to neighbors or the news.
"The seller had concerns about that news being made public and the impact on employees and so there was an agreement to not talk publicly about that acquisition," Kinder said.
If Catholic Charities is awarded the second portion of these funds, they expect the "Catalyst" building to open within 60 days.
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