Republican Disregard/Ignorance of Data
Local Republican electeds and candidates are using only their own prejudgment when they claim—or imply—that most homeless people in Spokane come from elsewhere. They ignore the fact that the last address of far more than a majority of homeless people in Spokane was local—the fact of which Republicans and your neighbors should be frequently and pointedly reminded. Government must be based on fact rather than deep-seated, erroneous prejudices. The actual, not-often-enough-repeated data is below.
The Point-In-Time Count, conducted in the last ten days of each January, is mandated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] of the executive branch of the federal government—and it is the very best objective data available on the homeless population. This is slide 4 from the presentation of the January 2022 Spokane Point-in-Time Count.
The data gathered from the residents of Camp Hope, the now-closed encampment of homeless residents near Freya and I-90 that once numbered over 600 is even more revealing—and contrary to Republican data-less prejudgment. The following is quoted [with permission] from Maurice Smith’s forthcoming book, A Place To Exist: The True and Untold Story of Camp Hope and Homelessness In Spokane:
Of the 467 badged residents of Camp Hope, 83% said they came from “greater Spokane” (within 20 miles of the City), while 70.7% said they came from the City of Spokane. ENDNOTE: These numbers were fairly consistent with the 2022 Point-In-Time Count which found that 74% of those interviewed said they came from Spokane County. 79% of those from Spokane County said they came from the City of Spokane.
Local Republican electeds and candidates either intentionally or wrecklessly ignore the data, playing to deep-seated fears.
“There are more homeless people coming to Spokane because we are a compassionate community, and the weight of it is crushing downtown and all around the city,” [Kim] Plese [Republican candidate for City of Spokane City Council President] says. [The italics are mine.]
Incumbent City of Spokane Mayor Woodward, “I think we need to get to the point where we’re working to make homelessness less comfortable and get people connected to services.” (Were they “too comfortable”, one must suppose, she fears would attract more needy people.)
Former Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich in a September 22, 2022, letter to the Washington Secretary of Transportation in which he threatens to forcibly clear Camp Hope: “My plan is to provide bus tickets to the location of each residents’ [sic] choice, allowing them to reunite with family and to assist them in recovery.” (The pseudo-compassionate “plan” fails on the data that 83% of Camp Hope residents were already in their county of origin.)
Current City of Spokane Valley City Council Member Rod Higgins: They should just “move on to someplace that calls themselves a sanctuary city or something like that”.
Even more pointedly, according to the chairman of the Spokane County Republican Party, Valley Assembly of God Pastor Brian Noble, it isn’t even the responsibility of government to consider the safety of homeless people. In his mind it is the responsibility of private non-profits (those without government funding) and churches—but, of course, not his church.
The image of homeless people Republicans feel the need to project is that of lazy people looking to live off the “public dole”, an “other” that we must be careful not to attract to “our” city by offering too much in the way of shelter and services, lest we be overwhelmed, taken advantage of. In the Republican mind these homeless folk are, by and large, invaders of our fair city, attracted here to feast off our too ample public teat. We must take great care not to be seen as offering too much “comfort”, lest we attract more of them.
This mindset of othering the homeless (or the poor or people of color or…) as outsiders, essentially as non-citizens, plays well to some. “The system must be working. I’ve got mine. My home value has shot up. I’ve got my retirement lined up. I’m not responsible for those ‘other’ folk, those interlopers, those mentally ill, drug-taking ne’er-do-wells who lack all initiative to better themselves. The last thing I want to do is to understand the mechanism that rendered them homeless.”
When you fill out your ballots (primary ballots are mailed this week) watch for this data-denial—and don’t be fooled by “non-partisan”-labelled campaign signs with blue trim. These people will all pay lip service to looking favorably on the Spokane Regional Authority for Homelessness, Housing, Health and Safety’s proposal. If elected, they will likely balk at supporting it for reasons of their underlying data-poor prejudgment.
Keep to the high ground,
Jerry
P.S. Consider mobility. Once a person is rendered homeless, out on the street or in one’s run down car or aged RV with all that remains of one’s belongings, just how mobile is that person? In that circumstance it is hard enough to protect one’s “stuff” while trying to make connections to basic local help. For most of these people the thought of traveling to, for example, sunny San Diego to “live the good life on the public dole” is unimaginable. That sort of mobility common to those with the means to travel, is nothing more than a pipe dream to those living on the streets.