Work on a new permanent night-by-night homeless shelter in Chehalis is on track to be completed by the end of the year, according to a call for bids published by Lewis County.
According to the announcement, the work will include the installation of “fire sprinklers and fire alarms, frontage work, fencing and a building renovation including light non-structural framing work to meet the needs of a different use.”
Night-by-night shelters are a form of emergency housing that open each afternoon and close in the mornings. They offer food, showers and a place to sleep, but those who stay there must gather their possessions and leave each day.
The plan to open a night-by-night shelter initially included opening an interim shelter at 2015 NE Kresky Ave., the former Washington State Employees Credit Union, as a permanent shelter at 2025 NE Kresky Ave. was completed.
However, the county determined the use of 2025 NE Kresky Ave. as a final shelter location to be “prohibitively expensive” and 2015 NE Kresky Ave. will now be a permanent shelter.
Following a permitting dispute with the City of Chehalis, Lewis County filed a lawsuit earlier this year alleging the city “intentionally interfered with said opening for an improper purpose, delay and by improper means.”
The suit was dropped weeks later, with Commissioner Lindsey Pollock saying the decision came “in light of the anticipated cooperation” with the city.
In July, the Board of Lewis County Commissioners took another step toward opening the delayed project, approving two contracts worth a combined $230,000 for kitchen and bathroom trailers for the new facility.
Lewis County will purchase a portable restroom and shower from Niu Toilet for $121,000, which will be used both for the shelter and “upon occasion, people rendered temporarily homeless through emergencies or natural disasters.”
The county will also purchase a 26-foot-long mobile kitchen unit from Renown Cargo Trailer for $93,800, which “provides the flexibility to serve not only those in the shelter” but occasional usage offsite.
Jointly managed by HopeSource, based in Ellensburg, and the Salvation Army of Lewis County, the permanent shelter could house up to 70 people, based on initial shelter designs.
In April 2023, the county received roughly $2.5 million in state money to fund the shelter.
After selecting the site in the spring of 2023, Lewis County said a site located between the downtowns of Chehalis and Centralia “allows for proximity to services without changing either city’s character,” according to previous reporting by The Chronicle.
The county’s statement also described the location as easily accessible to emergency services while being located on already-established public transportation routes.
