SPOKANE, Wash. – City and county leaders in Spokane gathered Tuesday morning at the Grand Davenport to hear from former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, considered a pioneer in local efforts to combat homelessness.
This year’s Point-in-Time count in Spokane County showed a slight improvement from 2023, with the number of homeless people decreasing from just under 2,400 to just over 2,000. However, the recent count is still double the number recorded in 2016, when less than 1,000 homeless individuals were counted.
Tuesday’s meeting, organized by the local advocacy group Hello for Good, was free and open to the public. Former Houston Mayor Parker, who served from 2010 to 2016, delivered the keynote address without a speaker fee, saying she’s dedicated to helping other cities tackle homelessness.
“We do not have enough housing in any major city in the country, housing costs are going up,” Parker said. “We can do a better job of managing the process but if you don’t look at the feeder side, we’re never gonna fix it.”
When Parker began her term in 2010, Houston faced severe federal scrutiny for its homelessness crisis. A significant opportunity arose when the federal government challenged Houston to house 100 homeless veterans in 100 days. By embracing the challenge, Houston secured federal funds to boost their homelessness initiatives and exceeded the challenge threefold.
“By the time we had done it three times, I knew every agency, I knew what they were good at and what they weren’t,” Parker said. “Which ones were really able to step up, who the individuals in those agencies were who could think outside the box.”
Houston’s approach involved knowing their homeless population intimately and prioritizing aid where needed most.
“Everybody wants to serve moms with children. Nobody wants to serve a schizophrenic homeless man. But I needed what I needed,” Parker said.
Parker credited her success to two main strategies: hiring a dedicated homelessness coordinator through a third-party national organization to keep the role insulated from local politics, and engaging major nonprofit fundraisers in the area by speaking to them monthly and having them grade her work.
“I didn’t need them to grade my work. I was going to do it, but I needed them to buy-in,” Parker stated.
Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown attended the event and had previously discussed strategies with Parker over Zoom. Brown believes Spokane is on the right path.
“We are on the right track with the navigation center that we’re creating in Spokane, and with the coordinated entry that we’re doing,” said Brown.
City Councilmember Jonathan Bingle highlighted another takeaway from Parker’s approach: enforcing anti-camping laws strictly.
“What I’m hoping happened today, is I’m hoping some people felt like they were given permission to enforce the laws we have on the books,” Bingle said.
A critical issue remains finding locations for the homeless, given the chronic overcapacity of the Spokane County Jail. Mayor Parker’s solution in Houston involved setting up sobering centers where intoxicated individuals were required to stay for four hours before being released. Both Mayor Brown and Councilmember Bingle agree this could be implemented in Spokane.
However, Parker warned of resistance from what she termed as “CAVE people” – Citizens Against Virtually Anything. The acronym is similar to the phrase NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) for people who oppose all new development near their home.
“We recently worked to potentially put a contract for a sobering center on the east part of town outside the central business district. The neighborhood said they did not want that to happen and we have to overcome those barriers,” Brown said.
