SPOKANE, Wash. — It’s officially the end of the TRAC shelter in Spokane.
The City of Spokane announced operations at the Trent Resource and Assistance Center end today, October 31.
Spokane has been phasing out the TRAC shelter in favor of a scattered shelter system instead of a congregate shelter plan but approved a short-term contract with Salvation Army while the transition occurred.
The Brown Administration says the decision to close the shelter was based off several factors including operating costs the city said was more than $1 million a month.
“The City of Spokane has spent nearly $20 million of one-time funds to operate TRAC over the past two years, and yet, we have not seen enough positive outcomes for the people utilizing the facility. Of the hundreds of people that have stayed at TRAC, only 10 percent were transitioned into more permanent housing solutions,” Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown said.
“We know that warehousing people is not the right way to help them break through the challenges of homelessness, so we are moving to a new model that we know provides better results and is also more cost effective.”
The city says the new scattered model provides better care and treatment while saving the city money.
Spokane also says ending the TRAC shelter will save the city more than $21 million over the next few years.
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