Planning for and Implementing Emergency Housing: Success Stories

Session 6C | Thursday | 4:00 – 5:15 PM (PT)

Recent changes to the GMA changed the way jurisdictions are to zone for and regulate supportive housing types including permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, emergency shelter and emergency housing. This session will provide planners with an understanding of the scale of need as projected by the Department of Commerce, a real world understanding of these housing types and common externalities, and suggestions for planning for these needs in their next periodic update. This session will also present how several cities are working to plan for and implement these housing types in their communities and bridging the gap between land use planning and homeless planning.

Laura Hodgson

Laura Hodgson is a Senior Planner in the Growth Management Services unit at the Washington State Department of Commerce. Laura currently supports local governments updating their housing elements as communities take a more active role to plan for and accommodate housing needs of all incomes and address racially disparate impacts, exclusion and displacement. She recently oversaw the development of guidance for communities updating their housing elements with HB 1220 (laws of 2021). Previously, Laura oversaw the $5M HB 1923 Increasing Residential Building Capacity grant program administered by Commerce, administered technical assistance to grantees and supported development of guidance for these grants. She has been with the Commerce since January 2020. Laura has been working in urban planning for 17 years. Prior to working at Commerce, she worked for a county planning department in Maryland and did consulting work in transportation and urban planning. Laura has a Bachelor’s of Architecture and a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Tech.     

Glen completed his Masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning at Eastern Washington University and has been in the planning profession for approximately 30 years. After working for several counties in the first 20 years, Glen has been employed by the City of Wenatchee for the last 10 years. In addition to traditional community development roles, Glen also manages two city homeless program for the cities of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee. This additional role has been professionally rewarding and challenging. Finding solutions and effective approaches for the changing dynamic of homelessness is an ongoing task working with partners in the Wenatchee Valley and in state government. Code changes, pursuing funding sources, wrap around services, partnerships and alternative low barrier shelter models have all been important for our communities steps in working to exit individuals from homelessness and the reduction of community impacts.

City of Vancouver

Jamie Spinelli is a Certified Peer Counselor and an experienced outreach worker for individuals experiencing homelessness and living with mental illness, substance use disorder, and trauma. Prior to working for the City of Vancouver, she worked at a variety of nonprofits in Clark County, WA and co-founded a grassroots organization that provides advocacy, outreach, and hygiene services for individuals experiencing homelessness. Jamie currently serves as the Homeless Response Manager for the City of Vancouver, and her work includes overseeing the implementation of Vancouver's Homeless Response Plan, managing the City's Homelessness Assistance and Resources Team (HART), and making policy and funding recommendations to Vancouver City Council.

Chad Eiken, AICP

City of Vancouver

Chad is the Director of the City of Vancouver's Community Development Department (CDD). He has been actively engaged in the city's most impactful initiatives over the past 30 years, such as downtown redevelopment, business recruitment, waterfront revitalization, development code amendments, comprehensive plan updates, annexations, and responding to the affordable housing and homelessness crisis. Chad has over 34 years of professional planning and management experience in both the public and private sectors. Prior to coming to Vancouver in 1992, Chad worked as a planning consultant and public agency planner in New York State. He has a Bachelors Degree from Wittenberg University and a Masters Degree in Geography from Miami University, Ohio. He has been a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners since 1994 and is the incoming president of the APA-Washington Chapter.

Executive Director of the City of Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium

Ben Stuckart is the Executive Director of the Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium. Previous to this he was the Spokane City Council President from 2012-2019. He is a native of Spokane and believes that we should consider housing a human right.

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