City Launches Coordinated Street Model, Transitions Navigation Center

City of Spokane Launches New Coordinated Street Outreach Model, Transitions Navigation Center to Day Use

Erin Hut, Communications Director, [email protected]

Thursday, September 25, 2025 at 3:04 p.m.

As part of the H.O.M.E. Starts Here Initiative, the City of Spokane is launching two new outreach efforts to strengthen its homelessness response. During the first week of October, the city will launch a new coordinated street outreach model and transition the navigation center into a day-use resource hub.

The new street outreach model addresses four primary bodies of outreach work in a coordinated and geographically assigned approach:

• Traditional street outreach: designed to meet the immediate needs of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness by connecting them to emergency shelter, housing, or critical services
• Coordination with the City's Encampment Resolution Program: a program that identifies and assesses encampments, establishes a by-names list of individuals on site, refers and relocates people to temporary or permanent housing, and abates the site while addressing public safety needs
• Coordination with the Spokane Police Department and Code Enforcement's Homeless Outreach Team: a team of SPD and Code Enforcement officers responsible for the abatement of encampments and connecting sites with outreach services
• Community and Officer-Initiated Calls: Calls and reports taken via the 311 phone line and online portal, as well as SPD officer-initiated calls

Under the new model, outreach teams will be located in all four of SPD's precincts, including downtown. Members of the public who see unhoused individuals in need of help, but in non-life-threatening situations, will be able to call 311 or file an online report, which will then dispatch an outreach team. SPD officers conducting enforcement will also be able to dispatch the outreach teams to provide services to those in need.

"We hear too often from the public that they do not know which number to call when they see an unhoused individual clearly in need of assistance, but who may not be dealing with a life-threatening emergency. Through this new outreach model, concerned community members will be able to dial 311 and dispatch homeless service providers to quickly connect people with assistance," Mayor Lisa Brown said.

"It is my hope that these changes to our engagement and enforcement response will improve coordination between SPD and the outreach teams that connect unhoused individuals with the services they need," Police Chief Kevin Hall said. "Enforcement places a critical role in our homelessness response, but it must be paired with the outreach, mental health care, and treatment that we know is what moves the needle."

The City of Spokane will also transition the navigation center to day use starting the first week of October. Located in the Cannon Street Shelter, the navigation center has been open since October 2024, providing stability and case management to 30 individuals on any given night.

Now, the center will serve as a place for unhoused individuals to access wraparound services during the day. The shift at the center does not reflect a change in the focus on housing and moving people out of homelessness, but rather increases the City of Spokane's ability to meet the daily needs of individuals on the street in need of services and housing. Under the new day use, the center will be able to serve 80 people at a time.

"One of the biggest gaps in our system has been the lack of safe, supportive places for people to go during the day. By transitioning the navigation center to day use, we are filling that gap and creating a place where people can access services, connect with case managers, and take steps toward stability," Housing and Human Services Director Dawn Kinder said.

Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington will partner with the City of Spokane for the new outreach model, while Jewels Helping Hands and Providence will operate the navigation center.

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