A few years ago a group working with the New Hope Resource Center in Colbert, about 7 miles north of the North Division Y, started studying housing insecurity in north Spokane County.
This housing and homelessness task force of sorts looked at the pressures on affordable housing in the northern part of the county. Most of New Hope’s clients were living in manufactured homes, which make up most of the affordable housing stock there. As pandemic eviction restrictions ended, many residents in those communities started to see doubled or tripled “lot rent” from the landlords who own the land their homes sit on.
At the same time, the group recognized that it’s much harder to help someone find stability after they’ve already been forced to live outside than it is to prevent someone who’s on the brink from losing their housing…