SPOKANE, Wash. – A village of thirty tiny homes is set to be built on an empty plot in the West Hills neighborhood of Spokane this Fall as housing for the homeless. The location of the plot has sparked conversation in the community.
In a campaign event in West Hills on Friday, City Councilman Johnathan Bingle made it clear that he feels ‘scattered site housing’ in the Spokane area has been ineffective.
“If the scattered site model is going to be what we do going forward, it truly needs to be a scattered site. West Hills, do we feel like it’s scattered right now,” Bingle asked. “No,” a crowd responded with a cheer.
Much of the crowd carried a sign reading ‘Save West Hills. Again.’
“You can’t continue to say ‘trust me it’s going to be good’ when what we’ve seen from facilities like this all around the city have not had positive results for the surrounding neighbors,” Bingle said in an interview with Nonstop Local.
For the site of the new project, one of those neighbors is a well-established sober living community: Ascenda. It’s right beside the plot where the tiny homes are set to be built.
“I moved here because I thought it was going to be a safe place,” said Kendra. “It’s just backwards that they would want to put it right next to a sober living community.” Kendra has been a resident at Ascenda for 5 years.
Zeke Smith is President of the developers behind the tiny home village: Waters Meet Foundation (Formerly Known as Empire Health Foundation). Smith says there are a few different reasons behind their selection of this location for the project.
“One is because we own the property and we don’t intend to charge a fee for the use of the property,” said Smith. “It’s a lot cheaper, which reduces the cost of this particular property.”
Outside of being a cost-effective location for developers, and the community, Smith says the location also meets parameters set by the city: it’s close to public transit, and there aren’t any schools nearby.
As for its proximity to Ascenda, Smith says that the open use of drugs or alcohol won’t be allowed on the property–but neither will urinalysis drug tests. He says drug testing could affect funding for the property as a low-barrier housing facility, and that it goes against one of the key missions of the project.
“[Drug testing] works in some environments, and works well for some folks, but we know that it doesn’t work for everybody. One of the things about a tiny home village is that you’re starting to build a sense of privacy and dignity for individuals.”
Still, some West Hills community members feel this project isn’t worth what they see as a risk to their neighborhood. William Hagy is one of those residents. Hagy has even been circulating a petition surrounding the future of West Hills.
“My mother is elderly; she was raised in this neighborhood back in the fifties. She lives in the house that she was raised in. She’s concerned.” Hagy went on to speak about the potential for the neighborhood to get “worse and worse” from “poor planning and just really no community involvement.”
“You need to invest in our neighborhood instead of being a detractor to it,” said Josette, another West Hills community member.
Bingle, who held this event, represents Spokane’s District One. That’s across town from District Two, the site of the tiny home project. Councilman Paul Dillon, who does represent West Hills and the rest of District Two, spoke about Bingle’s event in a statement Friday.
“I am very disappointed to learn there’s a protest with CM Bingle and the Spokane County Republicans in response to the tiny home proposal in West Hills in District 2,” Dillon said in the statement. “We need real, collaborative solutions that follow best practices – not political stunts and spectacle that create division and fear.”
Waters Meet Foundation told Nonstop Local that the timeline for the tiny home project begins this Fall.
