Last month, 19 of our 20 elected leaders in Spokane County and the cities of Spokane and Spokane Valley agreed on why a regional and collaborative approach to managing homelessness may be exactly what's needed. A joint statement signed by our elected representatives begins:
Our region's greatest strength is our ability to build community vitality through regional partnerships and collaboration, and now is the time to utilize that strength to more effectively and collaboratively address homelessness in our community.
It's important to pause here. When was the last time you recall 95 percent of elected officials agreeing on anything, much less on a fundamental approach to addressing one of the most complex and daunting challenges of our modern age?
This is just the beginning, but it's a really big and important beginning. Think of the many great stories we all know where the protagonist suddenly realizes why it matters to do something differently. Moments like Scrooge waking up from his visitations suddenly knowing his life must take a bold turn, or Rocky, where he suddenly sees a way out of his half efforts and failures. These are just beginnings, but they start with a sudden and very clear understanding of why something must change.
And that is precisely where we now stand. Our elected leaders have strongly articulated and agreed on why a regional, collaborative approach to homelessness in our community is the right approach. And, as described in earlier columns, the two of us, along with our colleague Theresa Sanders, are now facilitating a communitywide, 90-day due diligence period to explore the what and how of that approach.
This is where all of you come in, as stated in the joint statement:
Gathering comprehensive regional stakeholder input will be key to our success. Many different stakeholder groups, providers throughout the homeless response system, people with lived experience, our local Continuum of Care Board, local, state, and federal government agencies, their staff and advisory boards, as well as businesses and residents, will be encouraged to actively participate in this process.
On our website, SpokaneUnite.org, you will see opportunities to participate in this communitywide dialogue around homelessness. There are a great many questions to answer and priorities to set.
Although there will be some sponsored events, we are also encouraging citizens, businesses and organizations of all kinds to have their own conversations. These could be community events, neighborhood meetings, forums, online meet-ups or just about any type of dialogue. We, in turn, will work with the organizers of these events to document their conversations on our website and, after the 90-day period, to integrate them all into a set of recommendations to our elected officials.
We also believe now is a good time to lay some foundation and review some of the thinking that has guided us here. So please take a few moments to read the entire Joint Statement on our website. Also, the following are other foundational considerations guiding us:
MANAGING VS. SOLVING
Much of the discussion of the past few years has revolved around how and who can fix the problem. As we take swings at one another over the how and the who, we are greatly simplifying a challenge that is complex, societal and long-term.
We haven't come across another community that has "solved" homelessness. The communities that have demonstrated the best results are those that are "managing" this challenge in an integrated, data-driven and results-based manner. When we acknowledge that this is a long-term management challenge, it shifts the discussion from who can fix it to what is the best structure to effectively manage it.
INTEGRATION
One of the most important lessons we have learned in our many years of public service is that governmental collaboration is incredibly difficult. The headwinds of culture, finance and politics are blowing strongly against government collaboration and integration.
City and county governments are built around a multitude of funds and departments that can become siloed and protective of turf. But breaking down those silos within each organization is only the beginning. Because government entities by nature are political bodies, each with its own culture and identity, trying to find alignment across multiple cities and counties is even more difficult.
But the more important lesson we have learned in our careers is that governmental collaboration and integration are the only way really big things get accomplished.
A NEW ENTITY
City and county governments and their organizational structures have evolved over many decades. Those structures are generally built around six core public service functions. They build and maintain streets and utilities, operate parks and libraries, and provide public safety and criminal justice within their jurisdictions. Cities and counties have other community responsibilities, but these six comprise the vast majority of their budgets, staffing and attention.
Managing homelessness is not a new issue, but the magnitude of this challenge here has grown exponentially in the past few years. Fortunately, Spokane has a great track record of recognizing when a critical community opportunity or challenge doesn't fit within the strength or structure of city or county government.
The creation of the Public Facilities District to manage convention, entertainment and sporting events is one example. City government tried to put the square peg in the round hole for a few years and then wisely recognized that a single purpose public corporation could manage this more effectively. That decision has paid us back many times over with the fantastic facilities and events that the PFD brings to Spokane.
The same could be said for the creation of the Airport Board and Spokane Transit Authority — both single-purpose public corporations that were created with independent boards, budgets and staffing.
It is now inconceivable to think of city or county governments trying to run an airport or a transit system without major disruption to their other core services. We would argue that the same holds true in managing the homelessness challenge.
DEPOLITICIZING THE ISSUE
Common sense would say that homelessness is not a D or an R issue. But in today's politically divided world, pretty much everything becomes a D or R issue. Again, Spokane has a really good track record of being able to find common ground on major initiatives.
We may be a region with one foot in Seattle and one foot in Montana, but we still have a pretty good track record of doing big innovative things together. What we love about our region is when we decide to climb a hill, we do it. And we usually do it our way — so let's go! ♦
Gavin Cooley was the city of Spokane's chief financial officer for 17 years, serving five different mayors, starting with John Powers. He currently is working with the city on projects including investments and the Spokane River Trail System. Rick Romero is the former utilities director and director of strategic planning for the city of Spokane. He worked on a variety of projects, including the renovation of Riverfront Park, the Podium and the downtown Spokane football stadium.
