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Mayor Nadine Woodward announces plans to negotiate lease on new homeless shelter with city council members

Woodward believes the building on East Trent is the best fit for the new shelter. She also hopes that city council members share her opinion.

SPOKANE, Wash. — A new homeless shelter could be coming to an industrial area of East Spokane.

Today, Mayor Nadine Woodward announced the city is negotiating a lease on a 33,000 square foot building.

Mayor Woodward says the city has spent months looking at nearly 100 locations, but she said the building on Trent checks all the boxes. Now, she hopes city council members will agree.

The building on East Trent was once home to Berg Industries, a company that manufactures tents and shelters for the U.S. Military. The building may soon become a large shelter itself, housing hundreds of men and women in need.

"There is never a perfect location," Mayor Woodward said. "There are always people who will have concerns and there will always be some pushback, but I think this location really meets the needs that we're trying to address."

Mayor Woodward says the location checks all the boxes she wants. It's on a bus route, and not near residential neighborhoods, schools or daycares.

"And so we are now negotiating the lease on this property. And part of that process includes involving the council," Mayor Woodward said.

Woodward says the city has been in touch with businesses in the area. Some have concerns.

"We're going to make sure that their employees are safe, and their assets are protected," Mayor Woodward said. "And we'll have security on site. Police patrols will have a hotline they can call if they ever have a concern or a problem."

City Council members were recently given a tour of the site, including Michael Cathcart.

"There's no great place to put a shelter and I certainly don't love the fact that it's another shelter in my district," Cathcart said. "I think the site does work."

The city is planning to offer a handful of services on site, including mental health, addiction and job training.

"Another benefit of having this additional capacity is it's going to give the city the ability to enforce some of the laws that are on the books right now and so when there is some of that illegal camping and stuff going on... the city will now have the ability to enforce some of that stuff and direct those folks to the new shelter sites," Cathcart said.

Many of the people camping off I-90 and Freya say they need their own space and don't want to sleep in a shelter with hundreds of other people.

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