If you were at the Conference on
Ending Homelessness in Tacoma this year, you may have attended the session,
“Mission Possible: Lessons from the Bumpy Road of Creating a 24/7 Low Barrier
Shelter in Spokane”. Samantha Dompier and Heather Schleigh from the House of
Charity recounted the experience of expanding services to create and operate a
low-barrier shelter. Samantha has been kind enough to provide a write-up for
the Consolidated Homeless Grant (CHG) Newsletter for those who missed the session, as well as provide
follow-up information on the future of low barrier options in Spokane.
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On May 6, 2016 Spokane
Mayor David Condon and City Council President Ben Stuckart, jointly
announced the city’s priority of funding additional shelter capacity that
would be available 24 hours a day, seven days a
week to households in need. Up until that point, the shelters were full every night. This meant many households in crisis were not able to access shelter the same day, and
often had to wait days or weeks before shelter capacity opened.
The House of Charity (HOC),
previously a men’s-only shelter, transitioned to provide
shelter for individuals of all genders beginning with increased sleeping
capacity in November 2016 and expanding to 24/7 services in
January of 2017. Prior to adding the 24/7 capacity, HOC sought feedback
from community partners, youth over 18 and adults experiencing
homelessness to inform the program design. As a
result, HOC reduced barriers to entering shelter even
further by allowing all pets (as long as they were not aggressive),
providing a separate space for vulnerable individuals and allowing
partners to be sheltered at the same facility. In six months of
providing shelter for individuals, HOC sheltered 2292 men and 554 women—an
unprecedented number of individuals, especially when compared to the 803 men
and zero women sheltered 10 months prior in 2016.
The funding needed to
sustain 24/7 services for individuals was not identified for the
entire year of 2017 and, unfortunately, HOC had to stop
providing 24/7 shelter on May 1, resulting in many
individuals being displaced to the street with great impact to downtown
businesses and emergency services. Because of their commitment to the most
vulnerable, the City of Spokane was able to pass a special budget
ordinance that secured funding for sustaining 24/7 shelter, and HOC
will be reopening 24/7 shelter services for individuals August 1.
Family Promise, previously
a family shelter with a capacity of three families at a time/16 families in a
year, partnered with the City of Spokane to provide 24/7 shelter for
families. Beginning in December 2016, Family Promise opened the Day Center for
families called “Open Doors,” and Salvation Army provided overnight shelter for
the families. In June, Family Promise opened up an overnight shelter so
that families did not have to be shuttled from one location to another to
access the services they needed. From December of 2016 – July of 2017 Open
Doors served 171 households for a total of 618 individuals.
While the model is still
new, the intent of 24/7 shelter is to ensure that any household in
need of emergency shelter can access it at any time, day or night and be
quickly connected to the resources they need to end their homelessness.
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