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Spokane City Council members were sharply critical of actions this week that forced two dozen people from low-income housing in downtown Spokane amid a festering homelessness problem.
City code enforcement and fire officials turned people out of the Wall Street apartments this week following complaints of insect infestations, fire safety worries and other unsanitary conditions.
The issue has become ensnared in a lawsuit. Exacerbating the problem: city councilmembers were not told of the issues before reading about themin a story published Wednesday in The Spokesman-Review.
"Why weren't we notified?" asked Councilman Michael Cathcart during a chaotic council work session Thursday morning that included discussion of the death of a person at the apartments. Luis Garcia, director of code enforcement, and Fire Marshal Lance Dahl offered explanations during pointed questioning by councilmembers.
Their agencies were behind a no occupancy orderissued to the Wall Street apartments. With only one week notice of notice, the tenants were ordered to leave the building, many of them expected to resort to sleeping on the street.
A day before the meeting, the last tenants removed what belongings they could and left the building. At the time, council members were completely unaware of the situation.
Councilmember Karen Stratton sought answers.
"They were homeless. They were put therebecause it was standard or good housing. And now they're on the streets again," she said. "I worry about those individuals; there doesn't seem to be anybody helping them get to where they need to go."
According to Garcia, the city or other "outside" agencies have yet to deploy any financial assistance to relocate the tenants.
Garcia did not know when tenants would receive financial assistance.
He also didn't know how many tenants there...