SPOKANE, Wash — Spokane’s largest homeless shelter will stay open through the winter.
During a special session Thursday, Spokane City Council approved a multi-million dollar contract extension with the Salvation Army to keep the Trent Resource and Assistance Center (TRAC) open through April 2024.
The approval came with an air of resignation.
"Ready to move this next chapter and start fresh for a new contract in the next steps on this," council member Zack Zappone said. "I think there’s still frustrations this contract doesn’t solve.”
"This is still complicated, this has not been solved," council president Betsy Wilkerson said. "This is a band aid until we get more data and how we move forward and how we fund it, but we do not want anyone on the streets as much as we as a city can prevent that."
The short-term funding came just a couple weeks before the current contract on the shelter was set to expire, a fact that drew frustrations from council in previous conversations about the issue. Council had previously expressed feeling there was no other option besides letting TRAC's 300-plus users go unsheltered through the harshest months of winter.
The four-month contract comes with a price tag of $3.73 million; $3 million will pay for the four months of service, with $730,000 paying for extra expenditures TRAC faced in 2023.
There was little discussion before Thursday's unanimous vote and zero mention of the other challenge now facing the shelter and Spokane County's unhoused population.
"These are complicated days," Salvation Army Captain David Cain said.
According to Spokane County's Regional Health District, the county's unhoused population, including those in shelters, are experiencing an outbreak of shigellosis. The gastrointestinal illness is spread through fecal bacteria.
Shigellosis, the gastrointestinal infection caused by the shigella bacteria, can cause diarrhea, stomach pain and fever. It can cause more serious complications, like dehydration.
The health district tells KREM 2 News via email it does not have case counts specific to each shelter, both because numbers are so small at some locations there's "risk of providing identifiable information on those who are ill" and because of the transitory nature of people experiencing homelessness.
"The TRAC does have cases proportional to their resident size as compared to other shelters," SCRHD spokesperson Kelli Hawkins wrote.
The health district said it has regular communications with all shelters and information on increased sanitation and hygiene were already being shared at TRAC before the first case was detected.
"We put some new protocol in cleaning the spaces, in addition we’re just encouraging basic sanitary precautions like washing your hands," Captain Cain said of new mitigation measures at TRAC.
Hawins tells KREM 2 News the first case of shigella was identified in people experiencing homelessness on October 29. Those early cases were scattered across the area.
The health district originally posted on its website about the outbreak on November 22.
As of Thursday, SCRHD said 34 of the 71 people diagnosed with shigellosis had been hospitalized.
KREM 2 News asked Captain Cain about the bathroom facilities at TRAC after many reports there is no running water for people staying there. During an April 2023 visit to the shelter, KREM 2's cameras documented portable handwashing stations.
"It’s tough. We’re working with porta-potties so we’re working with what we have," Captain Cain said.
He says Salvation Army had hoped to move toward a more permanent restroom solution, but they're working in partnership with the city to do their best with the temporary facility.
"Because no one wants to say we spend more money in that category, that’s already the wrestle," Captain Cain added.
The Salvation Army is also working closely with the health district, which says it has visited TRAC as recently as Tuesday.
"We cannot speak to the plans that the City of Spokane has for adding permanent bathrooms or hand washing facilities at TRAC. We have not seen construction work being done at the TRAC," Hawkins wrote.
Hawkins added TRAC has started giving out individual water bottles instead of water jugs and cleaning has increased, especially at the handwashing sinks and toilet areas. More sanitizers, body wipes, and new undergarments have also been provided by SCRHD.
“Close collaboration, daily phone calls," Captain Cain said of the continued work between the two agencies in handling the outbreak.
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