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Residents press Spokane council on encampments, shelter funding and fentanyl during public comment
Summary
Multiple residents and service providers used open forum to urge the council to address encampments near schools, transparency and accountability for shelter funding, the condition of temporary shelters, and a surge of fentanyl-related overdoses.
Dozens of residents and service providers addressed the Spokane City Council during open forum, pressing elected officials to act on encampments near schools, transparency and oversight of shelter funding, the quality of temporary church-run shelters and a recent rise in fentanyl overdoses.
Several speakers tied recent council funding decisions to on-the-ground problems. Derek Azaro, identifying himself as from Logan District, asked the council to explain how $220,000 allocated for cold-snap sheltering was distributed and to provide expense and referral data from contract providers. Azaro provided a line-by-line breakdown he said had been approved the previous week: “Weighout shelters, 25 beds — you gave them $70,000 for 25 beds. That works out to $2,800 per…
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