Spokane City Council prioritizes homeless shelters over removing nuisance vehicles
(The Center Square) – The Spokane City Council reallocated $435,822 in pandemic relief on Monday after realizing a few of its commitments would fall outside the allowable time frame, putting the funding at risk.
Mayor Lisa Brown and her administration recommended saving the American Rescue Plan Act funding for something else before it’s too late. The federal government requires ARPA funding recipients to allocate the relief by the end of 2024, with the remainder spent by the end of 2026.
While the Brown administration initially proposed the reallocations, Council President Betsy Wilkerson forwarded another amendment on its behalf. Councilmember Michael Cathcart also floated two amendments of his own, but the one that reached a vote failed on a 4-3 vote.
His amendment would’ve put an additional $100,000 toward cleaning up RVs and junk vehicles.
“We no longer have money to remove junk vehicles,” Cathcart said. “This is a critical public safety issue that has to be addressed urgently, and with very little other options for funding but clearly we have ARPA dollars available, we can absolutely move some dollars.”
Cathcart said there are dozens of junk vehicles, which he estimated would cost around $60,000 or more to remove. However, the majority of the council chose otherwise after Councilmember Zack Zappone noted that the city needs that money for its shelters.
The $100,000 that Cathcart would’ve used is currently intended for Brown’s scattered-site homeless shelter model. Zappone argued that funding is available for removing junk vehicles but that the city is working on getting that through reimbursements from the state.
Councilmember Lili Navarrete voted for Cathcart’s amendment after Council Policy Advisor Chris Wright said the council could pass both amendments. She said the state’s reimbursements take time, sometimes longer than residents would hope for cleaning up the mess.
“We are challenged with funding our scattered-site model and all the narrative around our unhoused people and how we go forward; this is the impact immediately,” Wilkerson said.
The council ultimately approved her amendment, which mirrors the administration’s proposal except for reserving some funds for accessory-dwelling permits. Nearly $220,000 was initially for fire apparatuses, with another $100,000 for the Office of the Police Ombuds.
The rest of the reallocated funding came from various APRA contracts but in much smaller amounts, adding up the remaining $117,189. The $435,822 total went toward four initiatives: $169,684 for replacing HVAC at Spokane Fire Station #1; $6,138 for sales taxes on the city’s Wildland Urban Interface, or WUI, Fire software contract; $200,000 for the Latah Valley Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, analysis and subarea planning; and $60,000 for a “memory garden.”
“If we’re not able to allocate the money necessary to take care of this,” Cathcart said, “then I would just let every single neighborhood in this city know that if there’s a junk vehicle, a junk RV, and you’ve reported and you’re not getting a response, it’s the choice from this council to not invest dollars into making that happen.”
