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Council endorses contracts for navigation center and street outreach, amid concerns about beds and benchmarks
Summary
The Spokane City Council passed Resolution 2025-81 to fund contracts for a navigation center and street outreach, 5-2. Councilors supported outreach but asked for clearer entry/exit benchmarks and raised questions about where any displaced beds would be placed.
The Spokane City Council approved Resolution 2025-81, endorsing funding for contracts for a navigation center and increased street outreach, on a 5-2 vote.
Sunshine Wiggins testified that she had used the navigation/shelter services but said high barriers and re-entry to the streets were problems. Council member Cathcart said she would vote against the resolution: she described the Houston navigation-center model she observed in 2022 as more effective because it turned beds rapidly and connected people to services; she said the current proposal lacked sufficient guaranteed beds and clear referral pathways and warned that without short stays and rapid movement into housing, “folks will be right back out on the street.”
Supporters said the navigation center and outreach would strengthen the system and bring more coordinated outreach staff to the streets. Council member Dylan supported the resolution while acknowledging staff must provide more detail on entry and exit benchmarks. Council member Lambdin, a sponsor of the resolution, said the city must balance shelter operations with wraparound case management and that local scattered-site shelters could help absorb beds.
The resolution passed 5-2. Council members who voted against stressed concerns about system capacity and what the city’s broader shelter network would do to absorb any displaced people.
