Commissioners next week are likely to vote on a shared contract for the management of Lewis County’s night-by-night homeless shelter, set to be up and running this year on Kresky Avenue near Yard Birds.
In a Wednesday morning meeting, the contract was outlined to be split between the Lewis County Salvation Army and Hope Source, a housing-focused nonprofit based in Ellensburg. If the deal is sealed, the Salvation Army, which currently operates the county’s only night-by-night shelter in Centralia, would manage the shelter’s operations while Hope Source would run coordinated entry — defined by Washington state as “the quickest access to the most appropriate housing” for those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
“I think this is a situation where, if it was easy and could be solved by a simple entity, then they would have done it by now,” said Commissioner Lindsey Pollock on the choice to split up the contract. “This is going to take coordination by multiple groups.”
Cascade Community Healthcare, while not officially being awarded any contract at this time, is likely to be the county’s chosen health care provider at the shelter, the commissioners said.
After extending the deadline late last month on applications, the commissioners expressed a desire for the shelter to provide wraparound services in a leveled approach.
At the time, Commissioner Sean Swope, who has largely driven the shelter project, told The Chronicle the county had received just one applicant for the project since opening the request for proposals in late February. But, other applicants had expressed interest in the process, and Swope felt they didn’t all have enough time for those candidates to submit.
He added the project’s capacity is “major” and that it’s extremely important the county finds a provider who can “do it right.”
“This isn’t just another government function,” Swope said. “We want to do something meaningful, impactful.”
By extending the deadline, the county also ensured some money from the Legislature’s biennial capital budget would go toward the project. As of the last week, $2.5 million from the state was allocated for the new facility.
“Our representatives fought for this funding because they see the initiative,” Swope said.
He added he thought state lawmakers were excited by the promise of “accountability” in the shelter’s contract. Accountability, in this case, means creating benchmarks that people receiving housing services have to meet in order to continue doing so.
“This shelter will be the first step on the ladder to housing — it needs to be well-designed, in partnership with a provider who can both house people when they are most vulnerable and empower them to succeed in finding housing,” said Eric Eisenburg, Lewis County’s housing and infrastructure specialist, in the release.
Eisenberg led the effort to develop the county’s 12-step housing initiative, which is meant to address a crisis revealed by his study to be fueled by a 69% drop in the number of homes for sale in Lewis County between 2012 and 2021.
Read more about that plan at https://lewiscountywa.gov/offices/commissioners/housing-initiative/.
