By Max Broennle | FāVS News Reporter
As the weather gets colder in the Pacific Northwest, unhoused individuals are faced with dangerous conditions that can be detrimental to their health and safety. Access to warm clothes, shelter and food is instrumental to these community members.
Spokane’s homeless population decreased in 2025, compared to the previous year, according to the annual point-in-time count, but out of the 1,806 total homeless people accounted for, 617 had no shelter and 886 were in emergency housing, which is temporary.
While the city awaits the upcoming count in January, Spokane has been putting together resources for the more vulnerable community members including clothing drives and faith-based communities engaging in community outreach.
The City of Spokane runs the Shelter Me Spokane program, which provides only low barrier beds for overnight stays in several “scatter-site” shelters across the city. Individuals looking for help or looking to help someone in need of night shelter can visit the website and see where there are openings and contact the organization running that site.
These shelters offer beds for specific demographics like youth, adult men and women, families with minor children, adult men only and so on. They list the check-in times for each shelter, the bed capacity, how many beds are open, the address of the shelter and the email and phone number to contact the location. Jewels Helping Hands, Crosswalk Youth Shelter, Compassion Addiction Treatment and a few other organizations run these operate these “scatter-site” shelters.
Also run through the city, Dial 211 assists with finding social services. Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., individuals can call 2-1-1 and ask for help locating these services and community resources like housing, food and employment help.
Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington offers their own list of homeless resources on their website for those who need housing in emergency and nonemergency situations.
Their list provides temporary and permanent housing options, though many are currently on a waitlist, for both families and individuals.
There are differing requirements for each housing facility, often including social security numbers of all household members, proof of income and rules and regulations for residing in a shelter or participating in their programs.
Also included within their homeless resources are who to contact outside their business hours if they have an urgent housing need. These include Union Gospel Mission, YWCA Women’s Shelter and Family Promise depending upon the exact needs.
Beyond temporary housing, Catholic Charities also supports people through permanent supportive housing like at St. Margaret’s Shelter. One of the ways they offer support is by partnering with Spokane Public Schools and Spokane Regional Health Department to assist children with trauma who are housed there, according to their website, setting them up for success in their education.
Even businesses assist the community with resources they don’t have access to.
MOD Pizza has paired up with One Warm Coat to distribute winter coats to those in need this winter. They have donation bins at each MOD Pizza location until Jan. 11, 2026, and people can receive these donated coats at Union Gospel Mission of the Inland Northwest.
One Warm Coat’s website states their values, one of which is, “We believe in the basic right to protection from the cold.”
Advocates for homeless individuals, like the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), discuss major issues that cause homeless people to remain unhoused. These include a lack of pathways to permanent or longer term housing and rules and regulations within these housing options that hinder unhoused individuals’ ability to access and retain these resources.
According to a 2016 survey conducted by the NAEH, 22% of homeless people won’t seek out shelters because they often do not accept pets.
Resources are available throughout Spokane, but there are nuanced issues that can cause them to be harder to reach. Even with difficulties, they remain available throughout this winter for our community members.
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