SPOKANE, Wash. — The Salvation Army started its contract as the new operator of the Trent and Cannon Street homeless shelters Tuesday morning.
The non-profit, The Guardians Foundation, used to operate these shelters until the city abruptly ended that contract last week.
Let's break down how we got here.
The Guardians Foundation took over the Cannon Street Shelter from Jewels Helping Hands in August 2020. About a year later, the city partnered with the Guardians to operate that facility as a year-round homeless shelter.
Then, in August this year, Spokane city council named The Guardians as the operator for the new Trent homeless shelter. That $6.5 contract was good through December 31.
A month later, KREM 2 confirmed reports that an employee of the Guardians Foundation had allegedly mishandled funds. This prompted a criminal investigation. CEO Mike Shaw later confirmed with us about $118,000 went missing.
By October 26th, the city ended its contract with the Guardians and announced the Salvation Army agreed to take over.
The city never outright said if this decision was directly related to the fraud investigation. But the city administrator said several irregularities were found in payroll and expense reports submitted by the Guardians.
According to the city, there won't be any interruption of services at the Trent or Cannon shelters.
City spokesperson Brian Coddington said media will have the opportunity to go inside the shelter and see the new operation at the end of this week or early next week.
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