As Western Washington eases away from a cold snap that held temperatures below freezing for over 24 hours, county officials expanded funding for two cold weather shelter programs and inched closer to approving two other shelters originally intended to open Nov. 1.

The Grays Harbor County Board of Commissioners Tuesday approved cold weather shelter contracts with Chaplains on the Harbor and The Moore Wright Group, although both are still subject to certain contingencies, including location, to be reviewed by the board.

“This is just the first step, the second step would be (that) we have to have the specifics of what they are actually going to do, a scope of work, the location, and so on and so forth, and then we would bring that back to the board,” said Director of Grays Harbor County Public Health Mike McNickle at the board’s Tuesday meeting.

Meanwhile, the board reinforced expanded funding for existing cold weather shelter contracts. The action awarded Chaplains on the Harbor an additional $45,000 for an existing shelter on West Spokane Street in Westport, allowing the shelter, which has been in service since November, to likely expand by 10 beds to a total of 25, according to Barbra Weza, interim executive director of Chaplains on the Harbor.

In December, Weza cited a “very dire” situation for people without shelter, saying the Westport shelter was at capacity and having to turn people away.

The Westport shelter is currently the only county-approved emergency cold weather shelter and has been in operation since November. Many have used the Grays Harbor Transit line to access the shelter, although that sometimes isn’t accessible. Weza said Chaplains staff have heard reports from people who were unable to access the shelter either because buses weren’t running during the holidays or buses to Westport were too full.

The board also awarded an additional $77,000 — on top of the $220,000 awarded in the original contract — to Coastal Community Action Program’s hotel and motel voucher program. CCAP housing and community services Director Greg Claycamp said the money will provide for more vouchers, although it’s still unsure exactly how many. A county projection from December estimated the money could provide for 11 new vouchers, potentially raising the number of vouchers in use from 19 to 30.

The program prioritizes specific groups: homeless families with children and those that can’t access existing shelters.

But those still on the streets could soon receive other aid from CCAP. The board Tuesday awarded CCAP $30,000 for cold weather survival items, including sleeping bags and blankets, which Claycamp said will soon be distributed to the encampment near River Street in Aberdeen.

“What we’ve done is gone down and done an inventory of the folks in the encampments and asked them what they want, what they need to survive,” Claycamp said.

People who don’t qualify for hotel vouchers could have another shelter option within the next few weeks. At Tuesday’s board meeting, Weza said Chaplains has identified a potential site for a shelter, although the location wasn’t specified in the contract. The “very large” three bedroom house, Weza said, “has great potential, and it will work for a shelter.”

In an interview with The Daily World, Weza said the property is owned by Emmert International, a major property owner in Grays Harbor County.

However, Weza said her organization has not yet signed a lease for the house because, for one, she was waiting for contractual approval from the county, and two, the $4,200 monthly rental rate is more than the Chaplains had budgeted for the shelter, meaning budgets need to be “completely reworked,” Weza said.

Weza said the Chaplains are currently training staff and getting supplies in place, marking Jan. 15 as a hopeful service start date.

Prior to final commissioner approval for the shelter, Chaplains will need to seek approval from the “relevant municipality” in which the shelter is located, according to the contract. The city of Aberdeen previously objected to hosting a cold weather shelter within the city limits this winter, first through a letter from Mayor Pete Schave, which cited destructive and harmful conditions — particularly to the downtown business district — in last year’s shelter, a move later affirmed by the Aberdeen City Council.

The house’s location is outside the Aberdeen city limits, Weza said, south of Grays Harbor College.

“We have had verbal approval from the mayor, Pete Schave, and (County Commissioner) Kevin Pine has also seen the property, and has been sort of coordinating all of this for us to see this property,” Weza said.

Several conditions still have to be met before the county can begin funding the shelter, according to Grays Harbor County Public Health Healthy Places manager Cassie Lentz.

“We would need the proposed site to be identified, that site would need to be approved by fire marshall, by code enforcement, and for this particular contract, the relevant municipalities,” Lentz said Tuesday. “That city would have to provide written approval of the site. The Board of County Commissioners would have a chance to review the location and approve it formally in a meeting before services could begin.”

A similar process will have to take place for The Moore Wright Group, whose contract for a cold weather shelter to host families was approved Tuesday. The group originally proposed a 7 to 12 family shelter at either one — or, if necessary, two — of its houses on Pacific Avenue in Aberdeen but was tripped up during early assessments because of state and city codes regulating the number of people allowed to live in a residence.

As part of the county’s 2019-2024 Plan to Address Unmet Housing Needs, the county partners with community organizations to provide cold weather shelter services for “literally homeless individuals” from Nov. 1 through March 31, the “cold weather season.” Grays Harbor County Public Health first issued a request for proposals for cold weather shelters in September.

Funding for the county’s cold weather shelter program comes from both federal and state grants. Of the $590,000 designated for shelters, over half of that amount is provided by a Department of Housing and Urban Development and must be spent by June 2023.

Two proposals — from Chaplains and The Moore Wright Group, both in Aberdeen — have been delayed by over two months, therefore, original estimates for those contract amounts have dropped, creating a pocket of money the county needs to delegate before the time-sensitive grants expire.

The Chaplains’ contract is for $150,000, while The Moore Wright Group’s is for $80,500.

According to a cold weather shelter budget assessment presented to county commissioners last month, if “all proposals for additional investments are funded at the highest level” — including the recent bolstering of the existing shelter services — the county would still have $130,500 in potentially remaining funds.

Contact reporter Clayton Franke at 406-552-3917 or clayton.franke@thedailyworld.com.