Local government leaders discussed on Tuesday the prospect of greater collaboration in addressing homelessness and the immediate need for a homeless shelter in Grays Harbor County.

Aberdeen City Administrator Ruth Clemens delivered a presentation to the Grays Harbor County Board of Commissioners with information about the city’s Homelessness Response Committee meetings and recent community surveys, which the city is using to create a homelessness strategy.

With the information gathering complete, the next long-term objective of the city’s homelessness initiative is to “work toward permanent shelter options,” as well as tweak city codes related to homelessness and expand its voice on legislation.

“I think you understand that our immediate need right now is a shelter,” Clemens told commissioners. “That could be used not only by the unhoused here in Aberdeen, we believe every city would be using it if there was an available shelter. We are one of the few counties with this issue that doesn’t have a shelter for people to go.”

The city surveyed and hosted meetings for business owners, Aberdeen residents from several areas of the town, and the homeless community. A plurality of responses singled out the government as the group responsible for addressing homelessness, with many others saying it should be some combination of government and other community organizations.

Clemens said a majority of responses indicated the city of Aberdeen has been “very ineffective” in addressing the challenges of homelessness, and people were “very doubtful” of the ability of political and civic leaders in that regard.

“The people have lost hope and trust in the government’s ability to respond to these important social issues,” Clemens said. “If we were able to get a shelter, that would be one of the greatest responses, to be able to provide something like that. That is our ultimate goal.”

“It would benefit the county in so many different ways,” Clemens said.

Input from surveys and meetings pointed to the need for shelter and brought to light “both sides of the coin,” Clemens said. Business owners raised the problem of people urinating and defecating near store entrances and in nearby alleys; homeless people, especially women, indicated that was their only safe option when nature called in the middle of the night.

Clemens said getting people off the street would benefit the city’s downtown core, and ultimately help an effort to “rebrand” downtown Aberdeen.

Clemens said law enforcement has “run into issues” because of the lack of a shelter, in reference to the 2019 Martin V. Boise circuit court decision that determines governments cannot criminalize sleeping on the streets if not enough public shelter beds are available.

County commissioners Vickie Raines and Kevin Pine said they would support working toward a homeless shelter, but didn’t specify on Tuesday exactly where or what that might look like.

Location and shelter rules have been two major challenges facing local shelter efforts in years past.

In 2021, the board of commissioners passed on an opportunity for nearly $1.5 million in state and federal funding to develop a homeless shelter in Aberdeen, with Pine and Commissioner Jill Warne stating they were not in favor of providing a “low barrier” shelter that did not mandate sobriety or treatment for an overnight stay.

Last winter, the Aberdeen City Council voted to oppose the operation of a temporary winter shelter within the city limits, with many citing harm to downtown businesses in years past. That shelter would’ve been funded with state and federal dollars through the county’s cold weather shelter program, which operates November through March.

The county has allocated $530,000 for cold weather shelters this year, and recently requested proposals from providers, who will have to seek written approval from the municipality where their service is located for their application to be considered.

State and federal grants usually mandate shelters to be low barrier, or without requirements of background checks, program participation, identification or sobriety.

Aberdeen’s Union Gospel Mission runs a 40-bed men’s shelter on Heron Street but operates under certain rules, including sobriety and religious requirements.

Pine, who represents District 2, which includes Aberdeen, told The Daily World Tuesday that he would not be supportive of a low barrier shelter within the city limits. He and Aberdeen Mayor Pete Schave have searched for a shelter site outside the Aberdeen city limits for months but have declined to share locations.

Schave said in August the pair identified an adequate site just outside of Aberdeen. Pine said Tuesday a potential site is “close enough to services that someone could walk and/or take a bus.”

Pine said funding and support from the board are current hurdles, but he is “optimistic” and has a “road map we could potentially implement” to open the shelter.

“My vision is having a safe, secure location for the unhoused, that’s the first priority,” Pine said at Tuesday’s meeting. “It’ll give safety and security for the downtown areas, a little more security for our businesses, it’ll give the Aberdeen Police Department as well as other enforcement agencies throughout the county the opportunity to have a place where people can go, and then as time goes on we can add those services that will create an opportunity for people to get help.”

Warne, who represents East County, said successfully addressing homelessness would mean “not just moving people around, it’s actually helping people to get into programs they need to get back on track.”

Raines said she has supported shelter efforts for several years.

She said the key is “working with other entities to not only find a place for people to get out of the weather or find a place to sleep at night, but also to have outreach for services. Getting that location is going to be key, and getting a location that we can afford.”

Raines said a shelter location “has to be attainable, it has to be within walking distance or within a bus line. And even a bus line is not going to take care of people that have shopping carts full of things that they don’t want to leave their items, or have a dog or a pet. There’s much more that we could and certainly should be doing.”

Raines said she would be willing to pursue whatever type of shelter could be provided based on requirements from funding sources.

“If the funding source says you have to have no barrier or low-barrier, then that’s what you have,” she said.

She was critical of Aberdeen last year when it declined to host a shelter within the city. She said Tuesday that future work on homelessness “has to be done collaboratively and we have to get beyond the divide of the county and the city.”

“Aberdeen is the largest city and we have to be able to work in a partnership to be able to make anything happen,” Raines said, adding later that homelessness is a larger problem than just “Aberdeen or Grays Harbor County.”

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