SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane Mayoral Candidates Tim Archer, Lisa Brown, Kelly Stevens and incumbent mayor Nadine Woodward held a debate at the downtown public library Wednesday night.
Candidate Patrick McKann could not attend.
The debate focused on one topic ahead of next week's primary election; homelessness.
Candidates had time for opening and closing statements to share how they plan to address the continued problem.
"People are shuffled from the street to shelter emergency rooms or jail and then they're back on the street again," Brown said. "What this administration is doing isn't working."
"I'm proud of my record of bringing people together to deliver results for the City of Spokane," Mayor Woodward said. "We've added 500 more beds to the regional shelter system, we kept the unsheltered housed during the pandemic, we opened TRAC, a navigation center that every single night offers more than 300 people a bed."
"What Spokane needs is strong leadership because we do not have a homeless problem," Archer shared. "We have a government problem."
"I'd like to change the vocabulary I've been using from housing first to shelter first," Stevens said. "Housing is ideal. But in crisis, shelters win."
Candidates also answered several questions, including what factors they believe contributed to Spokane's homeless population.
"Lack of planning by the city and local governments is part of the problem," Brown said.
"Addiction on the streets that we see every single day they cannot be housed they need to be held first and then of course mental health," Woodward said.
"Number one, lack of law enforcement," Archer said. "Number two, addiction and number three, mental health."
"Mental health and drug addiction, those two," Stevens said. "They're so obvious."
The candidates also talked about the closing of the I-90 homeless camp earlier this summer, Spokane Unite, the regional approach to address homelessness and how to balance the needs of both unhoused and housed Spokane residents.
The deadline to register to vote online and by mail passed Monday, but residents can still register in person at the Spokane County Elections office now through Election Day Aug. 1, 2023.
To learn more about the mayoral and city council candidates ahead of the August primaries, visit our voter guide.
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