TRAC won’t turn away people tonight following ‘miscommunication’ | Saving Spokane
SPOKANE, Wash. – As bitter cold temperatures have hit the Inland Northwest, questions swirled Wednesday about whether or not people were being turned away from the Trent Resource and Assistance Center (TRAC)–the City of Spokane’s homeless shelter operated by the Salvation Army on East Trent Ave. in Spokane.
The short answer—the city says people will not be turned away overnight at TRAC on Wednesday.
NonStop Local called the main phone line for TRAC around 1:30 pm Wednesday to check on the shelter’s availability.
The receptionist said they were at capacity and were only doing temporary warming–people can come in, get warm and then leave.
“Unfortunately, that was a miscommunication,” said city spokesperson Brian Coddington, when reached by phone.
Coddington said they’re currently in the process of changing out the beds at TRAC–an early-established priority of the Salvation Army when they took over the shelter’s operations last month. The old wooden beds are being removed, and 350 new metal beds are being brought in, after being assembled by over 100 volunteers at the Spokane County Fairgrounds.
Removing the old beds combined with the delivery of the new ones is what led to the miscommunication with Salvation Army staff, according to Coddington.
“What they’re trying to do during the day is to minimize the disruptions to folks that are staying at the center, is to create as much space and buffer as possible,” Coddington said. “They want to reach an end point [in the project for the day]generally they’re working business hours to get those beds transitioned.”
Coddington said once the bed installation is done for the day, shelter staff prepares for people to stay overnight.
“There will be space available for people to sleep tonight,” Coddington said. “They will reorganize their sleeping areas, the beds will be in place as they should be and add mats as they need to for overflow to accept individuals tonight.”
When NonStop Local called the shelter’s main line after speaking with Coddington, the receptionist did indeed say that they won’t be turning anyone away Wednesday night.
TRAC has been the cornerstone of the city’s emergency weather plan since it opened, with Coddington and Mayor Nadine Woodward citing the facility’s ability to flex up capacity as needed to accommodate surges during spells of extreme heat, cold or smoke.
Coddington said there aren’t currently plans to open up other emergency warming shelters at this time.
During last winter’s cold snap, the city opened up an emergency warming center at the Spokane Convention Center.
Though the city’s online shelter availability dashboard said TRAC had six beds of 275 available as of 6 am Wednesday, Coddington said the Salvation Army has 100 sleeping mats to accommodate an expected increase with overnight low temperatures expected to be below zero.
Coddington also stressed there were beds available elsewhere in the region’s shelter system, for those seeking refuge from the cold.
Shelter bed availability can be tracked using the online dashboard, sheltermespokane.orgthough many of the shelters have been listed as at or near capacity for several days.