Spokane County approves $2 million for new homeless shelter in north Spokane
Spokane County Commissioners voted Monday to spend $2 million in federal COVID-19 aid funding to buy and renovate a building for a new regional homeless shelter. The move comes with less than a month to go before the lease runs out on the city of Spokane’s current homeless shelter space.
The proposed location is in the Spokane Housing Authority’s headquarters at 55 W, Mission Avenue. Commissioners unanimously voted to allocate $1.3 million to buy the building and $700,000 to renovate it and the Cannon Street shelter.
Commissioners used Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds for the purchase. The county received $90 million and has already used about a third of its allotment on public health funding, a small business grant program, food assistance, PPE and a marketing program.
The county would own the building, a provision county commissioners insisted on before the vote, but operations in the near future will be managed by the city of Spokane and operations will eventually be funded by several local governments.
Read more: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/jul/21/commissioners-to-approve-2-million-for-new-shelter/
