Assessment of Spokane County’s behavioral health, homelessness, crisis response, and justice systems
Across the United States, communities are grappling with the visible and costly consequences of untreated mental illness, substance use disorders, and housing instability—often manifesting in emergency rooms, jails, courts, and public spaces. Spokane County faces these same interconnected challenges. In response, the Safe and Healthy Spokane Task Force commissioned this independent, systemwide Asset Assessment to move beyond fragmented discussions and isolated solutions, and toward a shared, evidence-based understanding of how Spokane’s behavioral health, homelessness, crisis response, and justice systems function together.
Conducted by The Leifman Group, a nationally recognized firm with no local operational role, this assessment draws on both external expertise and extensive local input. It is grounded in the perspectives of a diverse group of stakeholders who are deeply familiar with how Spokane’s current systems do—and do not—work, including individuals from law enforcement, courts, behavioral health, housing, health care, philanthropy, business, advocacy, and people with lived experience. Rather than examining systems in isolation, the assessment evaluates them as one interconnected continuum, tracing how people move through crisis response, diversion, treatment, housing, and reentry—and identifying where targeted, coordinated improvements can have the greatest impact. The result is a clear, objective picture of what is working, where gaps exist, and how Spokane can move forward together.
The findings highlight both the complexity of the challenges and the strength of Spokane’s existing foundation. No single agency or sector can address these issues alone, yet Spokane County already possesses many of the core elements needed for success: committed leadership, experienced providers, innovative diversion and court initiatives, expanding crisis response capacity, and a growing culture of cross-system collaboration. While stakeholders may differ on specific approaches, there is strong alignment around the need for solutions that emphasize diversion, treatment, accountability, and recovery.
Importantly, the assessment identifies a broad consensus across stakeholders that in Spokane County, we are relying too heavily on the jail to address behavioral health and social crises. While perspectives differ on how best to respond, there is widespread agreement that the jail is currently being used in ways that are neither effective nor aligned with its intended role. Following the failure of the 2023 County Measure 1 (the proposed jail and mental health treatment sales tax measure), the findings emphasize the need for a balanced, coordinated approach that strengthens the full continuum of response—ensuring a humane, constitutionally compliant jail alongside robust diversion, treatment, stabilization, and housing options. Aligning resources in this way better matches people’s needs with appropriate responses and improves outcomes across systems.
This assessment is intended as a practical roadmap. It provides a shared foundation for the Task Force’s ongoing, inclusive work to align systems, strengthen coordination, and translate analysis into action. The Safe and Healthy Spokane Task Force remains committed to continued community engagement, transparency, and public reporting as this work moves forward, recognizing that meaningful and sustained progress depends on collective effort and shared responsibility across the entire community.
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