{"id":1414,"date":"2022-07-05T20:45:32","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T20:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/?post_type=stories&p=1414"},"modified":"2025-05-02T15:48:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T15:48:40","slug":"unsheltered-in-spokane","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/news\/unsheltered-in-spokane\/","title":{"rendered":"Unsheltered in Spokane"},"content":{"rendered":"

An EWU researcher and his students aim to quantify the scope of homelessness.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For individuals and families who lack a permanent place to call <\/span>home \u2014 and those trying to help them \u2014 the journey to stable housing is often long and arduous. Even understanding the scale and scope of the problem is a challenge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Spokane\u2019s annual Point-in-Time Count, a county-wide census of persons without housing, aims to bring the issue into better focus. The annual count, a federally mandated and funded effort, brings volunteer data-collectors into the city\u2019s streets and shelters to pose questions central to the homelessness issue: How many are lacking housing, and why? Who are those in most need? What barriers are they facing, and how might the city and county more successfully assist them?<\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event, held in February, was organized by the city\u2019s Community, Housing and Human Services Department. It included a significant boost from Eastern faculty and student volunteers, among them EWU\u2019s Matthew Anderson, an associate professor of urban and regional planning who was recently awarded EWU\u2019s prestigious Jeffers W. Chertok Memorial Endowed Professorship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among these fallacies, says Anderson, is the widely held belief that most of the city\u2019s unhoused are from elsewhere. In fact, he says, a solid majority are local.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Anderson, whose research background includes work in environmental justice, sustainability and city-planning theory, says the Chertok Professorship allowed him to fund three Eastern graduate students to help with the effort. In addition to tabulating numbers, these and other Eastern student volunteers also collected broader survey data \u2014 information they hope may help dispel common misconceptions about the local homeless population.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among these fallacies, says Anderson, is the widely held belief that most of the city\u2019s unhoused are from elsewhere. In fact, he says, a solid majority are local.\u00a0And while it\u2019s true some are homeless chiefly because of drug and alcohol dependencies, he adds, \u201cthere\u2019s just as many who aren\u2019t addicted to drugs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In reality, Anderson continues, poor decision making is seldom the sole cause of homelessness. Instead it usually boils down to a lack of affordable housing, robust tenants\u2019 rights laws and reduced government funding. \u201cAll it takes to become homeless is an eviction or losing your job. Any number of things can happen \u2014 medical problems, [lack of] healthcare coverage, a bill you couldn\u2019t pay. All it takes is getting evicted,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

For their part, city and county officials were effusive in their praise of Eastern\u2019s contribution, and for all of the volunteers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe partnership with EWU is a shining example of how teamwork makes the dream work,<\/span>\u201d says EWU alumna Amira Djulovic \u201906, Spokane\u2019s Point-in-Time Count coordinator. \u201cAbout 140 [total] volunteers signed up for this year\u2019s count, which is phenomenal considering the pandemic. It shows the heart of our community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Additional Coverage: Public libraries are overwhelmed by patrons in crisis. Eagle students are stepping up to help.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

A<\/span>ccording to <\/span>the American Library Association, people experiencing poverty or homelessness now account for \u201ca significant portion of users\u201d in public libraries across the nation. \u201cAs the number of poor children, adults, and families in America rise,\u201d the association says, \u201cso does the urgent need for libraries to effectively respond to their needs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This is certainly the case in much of the Inland Northwest, where administrators find themselves struggling to ensure that library-based information resources, services and technologies remain open to everyone. In Spokane at least, help is on the way; thanks, in part, to a group of Eastern social work students.<\/p>\n

When the Spokane Public Library\u2019s central location reopens after an ongoing renovation, the Eastern students will join a newly hired professional social worker to help current librarians better address the needs of disadvantaged patrons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen an increasing need for additional support for some of our customers that is outside the expertise of traditional library staff,\u201d said Andrew Chanse, the library\u2019s executive director, in a news release. By adding a social worker and interns, he continued, the library will be able to better serve the needs of those experiencing life challenges.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The plan, Chanse adds, is to create a \u201cwelcome team\u201d that will assist at-risk patrons without creating additional burdens for front-line staff. Modeled after the CARES team at the Spokane Fire Department, the team will use the expertise of Eastern\u2019s interns to help guide the homeless and others toward available services.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cBy making this staffing change, we can synergize with EWU and make a real difference,\u201d says Paul Chapin, the library\u2019s customer-experience manager, who organized the welcome team\u2019s formation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An EWU researcher and his students aim to quantify the scope of homelessness. For individuals and families who lack a permanent place to call home \u2014 and those trying to help them \u2014 the journey to stable housing is often long and arduous. Even understanding the scale and scope of the problem is a challenge.\u00a0…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":484,"featured_media":1416,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-1414","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-research","stories_categories-students","stories_tags-spring-summer-2022","stories_tags-urban-regional-planning"],"acf":{"subheading":"","featured_image_format":"cover","display_byline":false,"display_date_published":false,"featured_video":"","Links":false,"Resources":false,"page_hide_sidebar":false,"page_enable_page_nav":false,"display_featured_image":true,"page_override_title":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/1414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/484"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/1414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86120,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/1414\/revisions\/86120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}