Progressive politicians now have complete control of Spokane’s city government, triggering local employers and community leaders to be concerned that their unchecked extreme homeless policies will cause their downtown neighborhood to decay as it has in Seattle.

Last week these concerns came to the forefront as new Mayor Lisa Brown unveiled her transitional housing policy which will move over 500 homeless individuals into Downtown Spokane.

Progressives have controlled the Spokane City Council for many years. Currently they have a 5 to 2 advantage. Moderate mayors David Congdon (2011- 2019) and Nadine Woodruff (2019 -2023) have previously prevented the council from passing Seattle-style homeless policies.

But now that career politician and former Governor Jay Inslee cabinet member Lisa Brown is the city’s chief executive, downtown small businesses are worried their fate could soon be the same as many retailers in Seattle, who were forced to close their business due customers and workers feeling unsafe because of the increased crime problem associated with encampments.

Spokane’s homeless crisis began to explode following the controversial 2018 Martin v. Boise federal court decision (which prohibits enforcement of anti-camping laws unless homeless individuals are offered shelter). When the COVID pandemic hit, the Washington State Department of Transportation allowed a huge encampment (misnamed “Cape Hope”) to grow on its property near I-90 just South of downtown Spokane.

The encampment grew to well over 500 people and crime increased 58% in the nearby neighborhoods. Worse, inside the encampment, rapes, assaults, and rampant drug use became so out of control residents began to call the encampment “Lord of the Flies on drugs.”  Despite the violence, Lisa Brown (then WA Commerce Secretary) and other state officials allowed the encampment to persist over local law enforcement’s objections. The last encampment resident finally departed in June of last year, finally bringing relief to those who lived nearby.

Now that Lisa Brown has become mayor, community leaders are concerned about what her Housing First homeless policies will do to Downtown Spokane.  A Spokane Community College professor described the growing problems, “it’s just continued to get progressively worse with the litter, the vandalism, people shooting up on drugs. It’s a wasteland now.”

A commercial real estate representative explained, “…when you’re trying to bring companies into downtown and you have this kind of stuff going on, there’s no way I can convince people it’s safe to do business.”

Last week Mayor Brown released her plan to open a large 550-resident transitional housing facility at the Carlyle Hotel building located downtown at Second Ave. and Post St. after the pending closure of the Catholic Charities’ House of Charity emergency shelter on Pacific Avenue. Mayor Brown contends that the crime spike that has occurred around the current emergency center will not take place at the new transitional housing facility since it will be open 24 hours a day with “wrap-around” social services.

Local employers, worried about the safety of their customers and workers, were not convinced by the mayor’s assurances that crime will not increase once the transitional housing facility opens. Spokane City Councilman Jonathan Bingle stated that most businesses still have concerns since, “it’s the same population that’s going there.”

The Spokane Business Partnership released a statement saying “It’s disingenuous to suggest that moving current patrons in House of Charity to a new facility will not have impacts.”

As seen in Seattle, Spokane’s progressive political leaders failed to meet with the business community before announcing plans to impose a large homeless facility in the commercial neighborhood. This tactic backfired on King County Executive Dow Constantine in 2022 when he was forced to abandon his plan to impose a “mega-shelter” in the International District after Asian leaders expressed outrage over not being consulted.

Spokane’s progressives appear to have not learned important lessons from what has taken place on the state’s West side (and in other progressive West Coast cities) using nearly identical Housing First strategies. Seattle’s homeless population grew, record number dies on the streets, crime increased, and businesses closed their doors.  

Why would Mayor Brown and the five Left-leaning city councilmembers continue down the same path (i.e. adopting Housing First policies) that have failed elsewhere. The evidence is overwhelming. Housing First only increases the cost of homelessness and often increases the number of people suffering on the streets.

Albert Einstein has been wrongly attributed (historian Rita Mae Brown is the likely author) with coining the phrase, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If this is true, then it is insane for Mayor Brown and Spokane City Councilmembers to believe their that their homeless policies will surprisingly succeed in Spokane after dramatically failing elsewhere.