Spokane staff brief council on five‑year interlocal agreement to coordinate homelessness work with county and Spokane Valley

Dawn Kinder, a city staff member, briefed the Spokane City Council on an interlocal agreement (ILA) among the City of Spokane, Spokane County and the City of Spokane Valley intended to coordinate homelessness services and align with the Continuum of Care's five‑year plan.

"The city, the county, and the valley, do better when coordinating and collaborating on efforts aligning, our resources, and that's in the public's best interest to cooperate in those efforts," Kinder said during the briefing.

Kinder summarized the ILA's alignment with the Continuum of Care (CoC) five‑year plan and listed the plan's objectives as included in the agreement: promote an equitable, accountable and transparent system; prioritize people with the greatest barriers within subpopulations; prevent episodes of homelessness when possible; house people in settings that best meet their needs; and strengthen the homeless‑system workforce.

Kinder said the draft ILA was updated based on county feedback to add a coordinated data reporting process: "we added a k to the end of this list, coordinated data reporting process that provides information regarding homelessness and performance to the Spokane City Council, the Spokane Valley City Council, the Spokane County Board of Commissioners, and the general public."

In response to council questions, Kinder said data are reported publicly through quarterly performance reports and the Spokane Regional Health District (SRHD) dashboards, which are updated quarterly and now show multiple quarters for comparison. She said staff can pull specific data reports for council members on request.

Kinder also described a change to section 6 titled "right to contract independently / no encumbrances," and read language added from counsel: "nothing in this agreement shall be construed to authorize the commitment of any party's funds or the execution of contracts on behalf of that party that encumbers public funds or resources without the approval of that party's legislative body to the extent such approval is required under local code or procurement policies."

The city clerk's office later brought a procedural motion to amend the consent item OPR 20250362 (the ILA item). The council moved and seconded an amendment to OPR 20250362; the motion was put to a voice vote and passed.

Kinder said the ILA would run for five years from execution so it lines up with the CoC five‑year planning cycle. She said the Spokane County Board of Commissioners was scheduled to vote the next day and Spokane Valley had postponed its action pending county feedback.

No final interlocal agreement was adopted in the briefing; the council approved a motion to amend the consent agenda item before it is considered on the consent calendar.