Spokane mayor declares emergency to speed shelter beds, eviction help as SNAP cuts loom

Mayor Lisa Brown declared a local emergency Tuesday to speed the city’s response to rising homelessness and potential SNAP benefit cuts tied to the federal government shutdown.

Brown said the declaration lets the city bypass longer contracting timelines to bring about 50 additional shelter beds online, speed eviction-prevention contracts and fund mobile medication-assisted-treatment teams that outreach workers and police can use to connect people directly to assessment and care. “So today, I am declaring an emergency so we can quickly get some additional pieces in place,” she said.

The move comes as the city opens a day-use navigation center and expands coordinated street-outreach teams in all four quadrants. Brown said the navigation center is “serving between 80 and a 100 people move through there daily,” and called the city’s nonprofit partners — including Compassion Addiction Treatment and Catholic Charities of Eastern…