Vancouver OKs $4.94M mobile opioid clinic

Vancouver City Council approved a five-year, $4.94 million contract on Aug. 3 for the Cowlitz Indian Tribe to operate a mobile opioid treatment program, according to The Columbian. The program is intended to serve people experiencing homelessness and substance use disorder in Vancouver, with a primary focus on residents of the city’s planned Bridge Shelter. The agreement replaces an earlier arrangement with Columbia River Mental Health, which had partnered with the city when the mobile treatment effort was first launched in 2025. The city had presented the mobile clinic as part of its homelessness response and opioid settlement spending. Vancouver’s homelessness page says the city partnered with Columbia River Mental Health to launch the mobile opioid treatment program in 2025, using national opioid settlement funds. OPB reported in February 2025 that the city was paying $1.65 million for the first year of operations under that original contract. (columbian.com) ### Why did Vancouver approve a new operator for the clinic? The Columbian reported that the Aug. 3 council action approved the Cowlitz Indian Tribe as the operator for the mobile opioid treatment program under a new five-year deal. The article said the program would replace services previously provided through Columbia River Mental Health. (cityofvancouver.us) Columbia River Mental Health and the Cowlitz Indian Tribe had already announced a broader transition plan in July 2025. In a joint statement, the two organizations said they intended to move several behavioral health programs under the tribe’s Health and Human Services Department, including the NorthStar Clinic, which they described as one of the largest opioid treatment programs in southwest Washington. (columbian.com) ### What does the mobile clinic actually do? OPB reported in February 2025 that the mobile program was designed as a motorhome-style treatment center that could bring addiction and behavioral health care to shelters and encampments. The outlet said patients would be able to receive medications including methadone and suboxone, along with case management, medical evaluations, counseling and screenings for conditions including diabetes, hepatitis and HIV. (cowlitz.org) Jamie Spinelli, Vancouver’s homeless response manager, told OPB in 2025 that a mobile unit reduces barriers for people living outside because they do not have to leave belongings unattended to travel to a clinic. That explanation was part of the city’s original case for bringing treatment directly to unsheltered residents. (opb.org) ### How does the clinic connect to the Bridge Shelter? Vancouver’s Bridge Shelter is planned as a 120-bed, low-barrier shelter at 5313 N.E. 94th Ave., according to a city news release from October 2025. The city said at the time that Do Good Multnomah would lead shelter operations and that the Cowlitz Indian Tribe would provide on-site medical services to treat drug addiction. (opb.org) The same city release said the shelter was expected to open in fall 2026. The mobile opioid treatment contract approved this week fits that structure by putting the tribe in charge of addiction-treatment services linked to the shelter population. ### What does this say about Vancouver’s homelessness response? Vancouver’s homelessness office says the city has expanded its response since declaring a homelessness emergency in 2023. (cityofvancouver.us) The city says it counted 456 unsheltered individuals in summer 2025, distributed 407 naloxone kits and reported that at least 10 overdoses were reversed by its Homelessness Assistance and Resources Team or kit recipients. Those figures help explain why the city has tied shelter expansion, overdose response and addiction treatment together in the same set of programs. The mobile opioid clinic is one of the pieces the city has described as serving people who are homeless while connecting them to care where they are. ### What happens next? Fall 2026 is the city’s current target for opening the Bridge Shelter, according to Vancouver’s October 2025 release. (cityofvancouver.us) Do Good Multnomah is slated to operate the shelter, while the Cowlitz Indian Tribe is set to provide addiction-treatment services under the newly approved $4.94 million contract. (cityofvancouver.us)