SPOKANE, Wash. — As Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown’s administration works to reform the city’s homeless shelter model, city officials are working to phase out shelter beds at the controversial Trent Resources and Assistance Center.
A proposed contract extension presented by an administration official to the city council on Monday would require , to begin phasing out beds in early September and to finish phasing out beds by Nov. 1.
The Salvation Army would be paid $620,000 for the month, the same amount the city has paid for the services since the Brown administration renegotiated its contract early in 2024.
No councilmembers shared thoughts on the extension or the plan to phase out beds on Monday, however Spokane City Council President Betsy Wilkerson raised some concerns about how the administration plans to expand emergency capacity over the winter.
The extension is meant to be the city’s final contract extension for the Trent shelter,
It was one of the destinations for many former residents of Camp Hope, a large outdoor homelessness encampment in Spokane’s East Central neighborhood that frustrated many neighbors for months.
But by the time the 2023 Mayoral election cycle got into full swing, the Trent shelter was a political liability. The shelter was frequently and members of the Spokane City Council as ineffective and expensive.
“I think it’s literally a money pit,” Brown said during a primary debate.
The Brown administration announced in May that it would follow the results of an audit that suggested a scattered site model, in which many smaller shelters and service providers are located throughout out the city, would be more effective than the traditional large congregate shelters.
Anchoring that model would be a “navigation center” to direct those experiencing homelessness to other sites and services, however the city has yet to determine a location for that center.
