One of the people charged with helping unhoused people find housing is now homeless herself after issues with the city's billing process led her to go unpaid.
In January, when the new mayor and council praised a new scatter-site model to give shelter to unhoused people and began talking about extending a contract with Jewel’s Helping Hands (JHH) to continue partnering with churches across the city, it at first sounded like job security for providers.
But because of a series of complications with JHH contracts with the city of Spokane — including city staff sending the wrong billing form and a bizarre IT snafu that led to the city blocking all emails from JHH — the organization had not been reimbursed for contracts it was already owed.
JHH says they just didn’t have enough cash in the bank to float the organization while it waited months for payment, so Garcia, the woman who ended up homeless, and other members of leadership had personally decided not to cash their paychecks to ensure the organization could continue its work.
It is harder for smaller organizations to weather reimbursement schedules than larger organizations. Compared to other non-profits providing services to the unhoused like the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities of Spokane (CCS) and Volunteers of America, Jewels Helping Hands is tiny.
The team at JHH thinks that even more small nonprofits could be running nimble, innovative, programs like the scatter-sites that provide the city with sheltering services while being cost-effective for the community. But to do that, the city will have to take a few more risks — namely, moving away from the reimbursable billing system which required JHH to front more than $80,000 in cash and instead start giving advances on contracts.
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