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County plans fund swaps and reallocations to sustain homelessness and domestic‑violence prevention services
Summary
County staff proposed reallocating unspent ARPA funds for YWCA services into consolidated homeless grant and document‑recording fee funding to maintain homelessness prevention and domestic‑violence services, and recommended reassigning unallocated YoYo/Spokene funds to outreach contracts with Spokane Valley and SNAP.
County housing and human services staff briefed the Board of County Commissioners on proposals to reallocate unspent ARPA funds and to repurpose unallocated consolidated homeless grant (CHG) funds for existing providers and targeted outreach.
Chris (last name not specified) said the county had un‑obligated about $162,260 and $500,914 previously awarded to the YWCA under ARPA because spending requirements and timelines changed. The county proposes to forward‑commit consolidated homeless grant and document‑recording fee funds for the July 1, 2025–June 30, 2027 biennium to continue the YWCA’s existing homelessness prevention and domestic‑violence support services.
County staff said the scope of work would remain the same; the change is a funding source pivot so services continue when ARPA obligations are fully spent. Staff said the advisory committee recommended the reallocation and that contractual language will require providers to spend remaining ARPA funds before utilizing CHG funds.
Separately, staff recommended reallocating unspent funds from a previously unimplemented YoYo/Spokene project to expand outreach via existing contracts. The plan would direct CHG funds to the City of Spokane Valley to extend a Frontier Behavioral Health‑co‑response outreach team beyond current municipal boundaries and to support an additional outreach specialist and officer time for more hours of coverage. Staff said SNAP (Societe Neighborhood Action Partners), the county’s larger outreach contractor, would continue countywide outreach and that the Valley allocation would be focused on perimeter/unincorporated areas near the valley where encampments and unmet needs exist.
Advisory committee members recommended approving both reallocations; staff told commissioners the YWCA contract redirection would be forward‑committed and the outreach reallocation is for a six‑month period ending June 30, 2025. Staff said the advisory committee will review CHG competitive applications in March for the next biennium and that final awards will depend on state CHG allocations, which staff expect could drop by roughly 20% per guidance from the state.
