SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane City Council voted Monday night to pass a resolution related to limiting the number of beds at some future homeless shelters in the city. The resolution, which is non-binding, would limit the number of shelter beds to 100 per acre. The vote comes as Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward has proposed a new shelter with 250 beds at a site on East Trent.
Councilmembers passed the resolution on a 5-2 vote despite opposition from some of the community members in attendance, who accused the council of dragging their feet and getting in the way of the mayor’s proposed homeless shelter.
“Many of you here are quick to oppose every effort the administration has presented. What I see here on this board is an attempt at organized chaos. You, I feel, me, have failed the people of Spokane," said one community member.
Councilmember Jonathan Bingle agreed with some of that criticism, pointing out that the council did not approve an emergency zoning ordinance the Trent site needs. Council members may revisit that issue, but Councilwoman Betsy Wilkerson says the mayor’s office has yet to give them a price of how much the shelter will cost.
"There has been no proposal brought forward to council,” council member Zack Zappone said. “There has been no contracts, no lease, there has been nothing that has come forward to us that we are slowing down."
This resolution is non-binding, which means it is only the council’s recommendation of what it wants to see in its shelters. Before the vote on Monday, Mayor Woodward said it won't affect the Trent facility.
“It’s not going to change at all what we've been working on for months with the shelter on Trent," Woodward said.
She did not respond to the resolution directly on Monday, but Woodward did want to make clear, that her office will continue moving forward with plans at the East Trent site.
"We will open it to the number of people that we hope to serve in that facility, 250 people," Woodward said. "Which I think is very important that we have a facility that can bring people in from whether or not they're on the street or in a field.”