He came by the motel a couple days a month. Each time, Robert Lee Yates Jr. Yates is working on a year prison sentence. And the former Spokane Budget Saver Motel — notorious for drug and prostitution arrests — will reopen today as a Christian crisis shelter for women and children. The Bible-based nonprofit, which operates a shelter for homeless men and another for women with children, plans to offer 50 emergency beds at the new center to women in crisis.
Wall said women will have the option of moving to Anna Ogden Hall, its long-term rehabilitation and living center. After looking at several properties, Union Gospel decided on the motel — in part because it would be quickly available.
Mission leaders knew the homeless problem was immediate and pressing: A survey found women in Spokane had been homeless at some point during the year, including living on the streets. The same survey found homeless children. Beginning Jan. Sprague Ave. Situated next to the Hells Angels headquarters — and beyond that, an empty lot — the motel is surrounded by a security gate that closes at 5 p.
Infrared cameras track nighttime visitors. Inside the gate, clean bunk beds and welcome baskets will greet visitors. A continental breakfast and sack lunch will be provided, as well as van rides to dinner at Union Gospel Mission. Numerous companies have donated everything from furniture to tile. Before the nonprofit could rehabilitate women, it first had to deal with the building and its messy legacy of drugs, prostitution and sketchy clientele. The rooms have been fumigated and painted, and carpets have been cleaned.
We want to show them this is a new beginning. Three years ago, a SWAT team blew out the window to a room and busted down the door in search of Richard Lee Keenum, later convicted of the execution-style murders of a gay couple at their remote cabin in Stevens County.
