SPOKANE, Wash. — After looking at roughly 100 sites, Mayor Nadine Woodward says the building on East Trent is still the best option for a new homeless shelter.
The question that remains is who will operate it.
"I don't know what the timeline is now, I'll just tell you that the shelter will be delayed," Woodward said.
Three organizations submitted their own proposals, which were evaluated by the city's Continuum of Care (COC) Board. Former City Council President Ben Stuckart is the board chair, and he's also listed as a project manager for Jewels Helping Hands, one of the organizations trying to score that city contract.
"He should not have been part of the discussion about who that provider was going to be," Woodward said.
Stuckart acknowledged there was a conflict of interest on his part and said told the city's Community Housing and Human Services department on March 31 and brought it up during several COC meetings. He also recused himself from voting on a shelter operator.
"If they thought I should keep my mouth shut in the meeting then they should have said something over the last three weeks instead of scheduling their meetings around me," Stuckart said.
Today, the mayor's office announced that are restarting the selection process and creating a new committee to review organizations.
"The city is very angry," Stuckart said. "Nadine is very angry that her proposal didn't get rubber stamped by the Continuum of Care."
"We have hundreds of people on the street right now," Woodward said. "All of them lose in this political battle over who should be the provider."
Many people living at the homeless camp off I-90 and Freya say they don't want to be in a shelter with hundreds of other homeless people. They want their own space, even if it's just a tent.
"The DOT field is not humane for people who are unhoused," Woodward said. "People are dying in those tents from overdoses."
Once more shelter beds are available, the city will the authority to remove homeless camps.
"The City of Spokane, under my leadership, is not sanctioning tent cities," Woodward said.
This wasn't the only roadblock for the shelter this week. On Monday, city council members couldn't pass an emergency zoning ordinance needed for the shelter site on Trent. Council President Breean Beggs says the council could decide to revisit the topic soon.