Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing And Health topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Spokane expands navigation center, scattered shelters and street medicine to link housing and treatment
Summary
City housing officials described a navigation center, seven scattered-site shelters funded with a $4 million state grant, recovery-focused sheltering operated by Compassionate Addiction Treatment and expanded street-medicine hours funded with $1 million.
Dawn Kinder, director of housing-related services at the session, described a housing navigation center and a network of scattered-site shelters created with a $4 million state grant after the city closed a large congregate shelter. The navigation center acts as a hub that connects people to street medicine, housing case-management and coordinated entry.
“Each of those sites sleeps about 20 to 30 people,” Kinder said. She said the system currently includes seven scattered-site shelters plus the navigation center, which offers higher-intensity wraparound services. One scattered site is dedicated to recovery and is operated by Compassionate Addiction Treatment (CAT); CAT provides intensive outpatient services and housing and employment case management for residents of that recovery site.
Kinder said the city also used a $1 million state investment to expand street-medicine services run by Providence and CHAS, a federally qualified health center, to include evenings and weekends. The teams make weekly visits to shelters and encampments, provide primary care on-site and connect people to longer-term care, reducing unnecessary emergency-department visits.
Maggie Yates said the city expects to receive half of the street-medicine funds again in the upcoming state fiscal year to maintain expanded hours and that the city is exploring mobile methadone delivery, additional faith-based partnerships for scattered sites and an outdoor navigation site outside the downtown core.
