The Aberdeen City Council unanimously passed a resolution of support for a proposed emergency overnight homeless shelter at its Wednesday meeting.
Chaplains on the Harbor would make use of more than $1 million in funds made available to the county for an emergency homeless shelter through an Emergency Solutions Grant to establish a year-round low barrier shelter with 35-40 beds.
The Emergency Services Grant was awarded to the county through the state Department of Commerce and is earmarked for providing support to communities for street outreach, emergency shelter, rental assistance and related services.
First, Grays Harbor County Commissioners would have to accept the grant, which commissioners Kevin Pine and Jill Warne balked at when it came up for a vote at a meeting earlier this month. Commissioner Vickie Raines said the commission has to respond to the grant within the next couple of months; if it is not accepted, the grant money would no longer be available. The commission will take up the matter at its next meeting April 6.
Aberdeen’s resolution affirmed that “the City of Aberdeen supports the proposal for the Grays Harbor County Commissioners to accept the application from Chaplains on the Harbor to establish and operate a 35-40 bed emergency shelter” as it was outlined in their request for the funds to the commissioners.
Chaplains on the Harbor is a nonprofit homeless advocacy group that currently operates two overnight shelters under contract with the county, one in Westport and the other in the middle Swanson’s building in Aberdeen. The county contract ends March 31.
Aberdeen Councilman Nathan Kennedy drafted the two-page resolution, which outlines the city’s homeless shelter history dating back to 2018. There was no discussion among the council before it was passed unanimously.
The city “never really wanted to get into the housing business to begin with; that’s not what a city does,” said Kennedy. “We were kind of forced to, especially after Martin v Boise, because without having some kind of temporary or permanent shelter like the county is planning” the city can’t enforce its downtown camping laws.
In the Martin v Boise U.S. Supreme Court case, the justices declared a city can’t enforce its camping laws unless there is another established place for the homeless to go.
Last year, the city had planned to close its homeless tent camp located next to City Hall, but were told by the state Attorney General’s Office that Gov. Jay Inslee’s evictions moratorium designed to protect renters during the pandemic that the camp fell under the umbrella of the order, and the city-run camp remains operational.
“The moratorium on evictions came about so we had to keep extending the temporary use permit we issued” for the camp, said Kennedy. “We lucked out because the CARES Act provided funding, so we were able to keep things funded without it being a burden on the taxpayers.”
Kennedy said the camp operates at the discretion of Mayor Pete Schave, and signs point to the camp being closed soon after the eviction moratorium is lifted.
“The current feeling is that if the governor doesn’t extend the moratorium past June that the mayor is going to call to have the (camp) permanently closed,” said Kennedy.
If the county commissioners approve the funding for the Chaplains on the Harbor shelter, Kennedy hopes a location can be found and operational before the City Hall camp closes, whenever that may be. Chaplains on the Harbor has not yet provided a list of possible locations.
In the short term, “the goal of the shelter is going to be pretty much focused on the currently unsheltered, and since residents in the (City Hall camp) are currently sheltered, they probably won’t be the immediate focus, but a lot depends on when the shelter comes about,” said Kennedy. “My hope is kind of a transition where we can get the (City Hall camp) closed and move them into the shelter the county is going to open up so there really isn’t a time where we potentially shut down the (City Hall camp) and then have 21 people on the street with nowhere to go. That’s not going to solve anything.”
The difficulty of finding a location, and the lack of certainty about funding, could create a period of a month or two where the people currently in the City Hall camp “wind up going back out onto the street for a short period of time, unless the council decides that, hey, if we know this is coming down the road,” to extend the City Hall camp until the Chaplains on the Harbor shelter is operational, said Kennedy.
Kennedy added, “The goal is to have it be temporary. Once it’s out of customers we should have this issue under control and people who need help are getting the help they need and have housing.”
