SPOKANE, Wash. — An addiction recovery center is looking to relocate out of downtown Spokane and into East Spokane.
Compassionate Addiction Treatment is working with the city to move away from Division Street and into the Chief Garry Park neighborhood.
Many local businesses in the neighborhood posted signs fighting to keep C.A.T from relocating.
“It’s not that we don’t want to help,” explained Dori Peck, the executive director of SpokAnimal. “It’s just that we are very concerned with what’s going to happen with our neighborhood.”
Businesses like SpokAnimal, Bouten Construction and others are wary of welcoming C.A.T to the neighborhood.
The addiction treatment center is slated to take over a building formerly home to a shelter operated by Jewel’s Helping Hands. Some neighbors felt the area is already overburdened.
In Chief Garry Park alone, there are several homeless service providers, including Trac, Family Promise and the Union Gospel Mission. Neighbors are asking why not spread the wealth of resources to another neighborhood.
“Everyone is going to say ‘not in my neighborhood,'” Peck said. “We feel like we already have a lot of services in our neighborhood. We need to make it more fair, we need to spread it out a little bit more.”
The City of Spokane said C.A.T is not a shelter. It’s a licensed behavioral health resource designed for those struggling with addiction.
When asked why the Chief Garry Park location was selected, the city said it checked all the boxes needed, including a relatively private front area and a courtyard for patients to unwind.
The facility will have 16 beds and outpatient services for up to 45 behavioral health patients.
In a statement to 4 News Now, C.A.T said “The new facility will be better suited for our trauma-informed approach to serving vulnerable populations, will have enhanced security and will only be accessible to those engaged in C.A.T’s service.”
The organization is expecting to move into the new building in October.
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