SPOKANE, Wash. — It's been the talk of town for years. In fact, Mayor Lisa Brown made it a campaign vow and now, it appears we're less than a month away from the Mayor making good on her promise to close the Trent Resource and Assistance Center (TRAC) for good.
"The City of Spokane is ending the Salvation Army's contract as of November 1," said Captain David Cain of The Salvation Army, which operates TRAC.
The end date of October 31, which the city set after a contract extension in early September, is a significant date for Cain and the sometimes messy history of the city's largest shelter.
"So the Salvation Army took over the TRAC shelter two years to the date of our closure," Captain Cain said.
With its one-month extension to phase out operations, the city set benchmarks and requires weekly check-ins to make sure the Salvation Army is complying, according to agenda documents. For instance, by September 16 maximum bed capacity was set to be 175, reducing to 125 beds by October 1.
"About four weeks ago we were at 250 people. Based on our current numbers, we're at 95 guests," Captain Cain said Friday.
KREM 2 News asked for a tour inside the building; our cameras haven't been inside since April 2023. Captain Cain allowed one short walk-through of the facility with only a GoPro camera to protect their guests in this sensitive time, he said.
The Salvation Army is working with the City and other service providers to transition these guests out of TRAC and into whatever placement they need, such as veteran services, transitional housing, or other shelters.
"Our collaborative group is working to go name by name for every guest staying at the TRAC shelter in order to find viable paths forward," Captain Cain said.
A highly-individualized process, but one the City says needs to happen now.
"We recognize the challenge with that," said Dawn Kinder, the director for Neighborhood, Housing and Human Services. "We also don't have the financial ability to maintain operations at that facility."
Kinder says the one-time federal funds that often kept operations and other services for the unhoused afloat are "long gone."
To date, the City has spent more than $16.8 million on TRAC operations alone, including several infusions of extra money. Kinder says in Mayor Brown's tenure, they've amended the contract to cover a surge (and resulting extra spending) during inclement weather and a restructuring of the shelter's budget done when Mayor Brown took office.
The City's latest contract extension for October comes with a price tag of $620,000 in American Rescue Plan dollars to help Salvation Army ramp down operations.
"The December invoice for TRAC was $1.2 million, before Mayor Brown took office. By negotiating that down to $620,000 a month, we were actually able to extend that by five months," Kinder said.
Friday, Kinder confirmed TRAC will not serve as a warming shelter this winter, though Salvation Army did express interest as part of a request for information process. The City is still leasing the building on Trent, so it may be utilized for another need, Kinder said.
Though, it's time as TRAC is nearly over.
"So we will continue that work until the day we close the shelter and move on to new opportunities," Captain Cain said.