Spokane puts boulders under freeway to deter homeless campers

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – The city of Spokane, Washington, is laying tons of basalt boulders below Interstate 90 to prevent homeless people from camping downtown.
 
The Spokesman-Review says (https://goo.gl/h9vfXm) the $150,000 effort is one of many steps the city is taking to get people off the streets and into shelters.
 
The city council earlier this year approved $510,000 to keep one shelter open around the clock. It also committed $1.1 million in 2018 to keep the entire shelter system, which include day and night shelters for families with children, single women and teens, operating.
 
City Council President Ben Stuckart says the city wants to get people to use those newly funded resources and avoid disrupting private businesses.
 
He says the problem of homelessness is growing in Spokane, as it has in other West Coast cities.
 
Other cities have used environmental design such as benches with vertical slats to drive homeless people away from certain areas.