SPOKANE VALLEY — City council unanimously approved a motion to establish an interim homeless housing task force during their meeting on Sept. 12, in order to timely establish a task force and complete the necessary work on a five-year plan.
The resolution establishes an interim task force composed of seven voting members.
The task force will provide recommendations for the 5-year plan to be used in 2024, and make recommendations for the composition of the permanent task force.
At a previous meeting, which took place on July 11, council heard a report on the Affordable and Supportive Housing Sales and Use Tax Credit.
If the city assumed control over local recording fee funds, it would receive a share of the budgeted funds from the state.
From 2019-22, the recording fee funds the city would have received ranged from $658,000 to $1,060,000, with 2022 at $700,000.
Expenditures are unknown, according to a staff report, but the city would be required to assume responsibility for managing the numbers within city limits.
This would include creating a task force and a homeless housing plan. The next step would be to implement the plan, reports said.
“There is absolute chaos in the homelessness division of the Spokane County,” Councilman Arne Woodard said, “I think what commerce and others are trying to do is corner us into a conformity of failure, instead of trying to help us do what we’ve been trying to do, which is encouraging people to stop being homeless.”
Woodard said that he feels this is a point at which the city needs to put a line in the sand.
“If we’re going to control our destiny, this is the start,” Woodard said.
Councilman Tim Hattenburg agreed with Woodard.
“I think it’s very important that we continue with our homelessness plan,” Hattenburg said. “We need to move forward and not stay tied to other plans and programs that may tie our hands.”
Councilwoman Brandi Peetz said that “We should have done this five years ago but we didn’t have the votes. Now, we’re still in the same position…we still want to do what’s right and best for our citizens in Spokane Valley; that’s why I am in favor of moving forward on this.”
Currently, the state portion of recording fees is not available for the city to directly access. If the city elects to operate its own local homeless housing program, the city will receive a percentage of the surcharge collected by the county, documents show.
The city can use these funds for programs that directly contribute to the goals of the city’s homeless housing plan.
The city may use up to ten percent of the funds received for administrative costs.
If a resolution is adopted in the future, the city shall be responsible for complying with all the requirements of the county and adopt a local homeless housing plan, city documents state.
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