A group of Spokane business leaders has formed a coalition to address homelessness in Spokane, attempting to reverse alarming trends outlined in a recent study that indicates the rate of homelessness in Spokane has grown to three times the national average.

Calling its effort hello for good—the “hello” part of the name stands for helping empower lifelong opportunities—the coalition is headed by Chris Patterson, who was recently hired as a community adviser at Washington Trust Bank. Patterson is the former regional U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development administrator who most recently worked with Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward as a special adviser focusing on human resources, housing, and homelessness.

“I got a call one day from Washington Trust Bank, and Jack (Heath), he made it clear to me that this is a community initiative and that this is something we have to do because nobody else is stepping up,” says Patterson of how the organization first began.

Heath, president and chief operating officer of Washington Trust Bank, says he and other colleagues saw the challenges facing downtown Spokane with homelessness and the way it had accelerated in recent years. Some employees had expressed concerns about feeling unsafe downtown, he says.

“An underlying goal is for Spokane to be one of the safest, cleanest downtowns with compassion for people and doing the right thing,” says Heath.

Hello for good’s stated purpose is to improve social issues, homelessness, and livability in the Spokane area. It has established a donor-directed fund through the Innovia Foundation for financial support of its efforts. 

Patterson says the initiative reminds him of Spokane in the 1980s, when the business community came together to tackle economic issues through Momentum ’87. That initiative established the community’s first venture capital fund to invest in regional companies and was heavily involved in the development of the University District, among at least 10 other strategic objectives for the region.

Now, with the creation of hello for good, the same concern for the community by business leaders is once again being established, Patterson says. Hello for good’s 10-person steering committee is made up of business leaders. While employed by Washington Trust, Patterson is working full-time on hello for good.

The other steering committee members are Katy Bruya, senior vice president and chief human resources officer for Washington Trust Bank; Lynnelle Caudill, managing director for the Davenport Hotels; Fawn Schott, CEO at Volunteers for America Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho; Roy Koegen, partner at Kutak Rock LLP law firm; Kristine Meyer, executive director of Avista Foundation; Shelly O’Quinn, CEO of Innovia Foundation; Andrew Rowles, interim president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership; Lawrence Stone, president of L.B. Stone Properties Group LLC; and Chud Wendle, managing member of Northtown Square LLC.

The committee meets every Thursday at Washington Trust Bank to hear from experts from across the country who study homelessness, mental health, addiction, and recovery, says Patterson.

In October, Washington Trust Bank and STCU hired Berry Consulting Inc. to compile a regional homelessness study.

Berry Consulting is headed by RJ Berry, a former mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and former state legislator, who claims that when he was here doing the assessment, he saw the business community wanting to engage for the betterment of the Spokane region.

Berry and his team conducted interviews and listening sessions with over 30 key Spokane business leaders, service providers, city of Spokane employees, and elected officials to discuss the current housing, homelessness and mental health challenges of the region.

“Smart communities know that government can’t do everything,” Berry says. “When you have a business community, a philanthropic sector, a nonprofit community, and service providers that are all pulling the weight with government, that is the formula for getting meaningful and sustainable things done.” 

Breean Beggs, City Council president, says he believes that the involvement of the business community is important in bringing all voices from many sectors to the table.

“Right now, in Spokane, we are closer together on how to address homelessness, and I think that bodes well for us,” says Beggs.

The report, Listening Sessions on Homelessness Spokane, Washington, was completed in January and outlines national data, best practices, and local needs, while emphasizing that “any meaningful plan to address and impact homelessness needs to be intentional and purposeful.”

The report highlights already ongoing collaboration, such as an effort that led to recent opening of a youth shelter out of the downtown area and closer to Spokane Community College, where youth feel safer and more willing to engage with service providers.

Despite such efforts, Spokane’s homeless population remains at 0.685% of the total population, or more than 1,500 individuals, which is nearly three times the national average of 0.2%. Additionally, 31% of the homeless population is experiencing chronic homelessness as opposed to the national average of 19%.

The report indicates that any targeted plan should focus on chronically homeless singles.

Regarding housing, the report outlines the disparity between employee wages, housing costs, and housing selections in Spokane. Currently, the minimum wage is $14.49 an hour, or $30,100 annually. In keeping with the conventional recommendation of spending no more than 30% of income on rent, this wage is too low to afford a one-bedroom apartment for which the fair market rent is projected at $9,500 annually.

The report also indicates Spokane doesn’t have enough shelter beds to meet the requirements set forth in Martin v. Boise, a 2019 federal appeals court ruling that held that cities cannot enforce anticamping ordinances if they don’t have enough homeless shelter beds available for their homeless population.

“It will take political and community will and compromise, and your efforts will suffer if you sacrifice good ideas in search of perfect solutions,” the report concludes.