Vancouver reports steady homeless outreach activity, shelters to open Nov. 1; city highlights Safe Stay housing outcomes

Jamie Spinelli, the city's homeless response manager, presented the September homelessness situation report to the Vancouver City Council on Oct. 20.

Spinelli said the city has recorded 26 deaths among people experiencing homelessness since mid-December, including three in September, and that planning is under way for a memorial in mid-December. Winter shelters will open community-wide on Nov. 1. Spinelli reported that city-operated large cleanups removed 11 tons in the last month and the rapid-response crew removed nearly 10 tons; year-to-date tonnage across cleanups is a little over 235 tons. "Most of that tonnage is coming from around Sharehouse and the Jefferson area," she said.

Safe Stay and Safe Park programs reported housing referrals and placements: across sites Safe Stay showed six people housed the most recent reporting period and 14 on deck; 11 people participated in detox programs, five entered intensive outpatient or medication-assisted treatment, nine had job interviews and four were hired, and six people obtained Social Security cards. Spinelli highlighted individual success stories and strong housing-retention metrics from Kagan's Village: 37 people moved into housing from that site since January 2024, with 35 maintaining housing.

Spinelli also said the city lost 13 parking spaces at Safe Park after the Bonneville Power Administration clarified its easement extends beyond the visible power-line area; no one was displaced as staff reshuffled spaces. She thanked permitting and other departments for expedited support on shelter projects and noted the Columbia Mobile Reverse Health team is filling behavioral-health gaps as it builds capacity.

Council members asked about recurring illegal dumping and safety issues around the Sharehouse site. Council member Perez and others urged more preventive and collaborative responses rather than repeated trash removal. Spinelli said outreach teams regularly engage people at the site but that multiple different individuals deposit trash and that the city has removed a public dumpster that had been attracting dumping. Council discussion raised fentanyl and related criminal-activity concerns and noted limitations in police and jail capacity to deter low-level offenses.

Spinelli concluded that the city is prioritizing shelter and housing placement efforts and continuing targeted cleanups, with staff working on training (motivational interviewing, hoarding response) and partnerships to support Safe Stay staff and residents.