The city of Vancouver is still exploring potential locations for a facility where homeless people can spend time during the day and access services.
A vacant strip of land owned by Vancouver Housing Authority was considered the top candidate site for a new permanent day center that would include restrooms, showers, laundry facilities, personal storage, mail and phone charging stations. In January the city submitted a preliminary application to build a 3,000-square-foot center on the lot next to Lincoln Place, an apartment complex on the west edge of downtown Vancouver for people who used to be homeless.
A June 2 email from City Manager Eric Holmes to the mayor and city council said: “As we have worked through the due diligence for this site, feedback from service providers, partners and neighborhood residents has strongly suggested another site may better serve the interests and needs of the community and those experiencing homelessness. In addition, ongoing discussions with Clark County about shared funding have been stalled with the recent change in leadership there. Adding a day center in this location would increase the potential for overwhelming existing service providers in the area as well as the potential for negative impacts to the surrounding neighborhood.”
The city got a lot of push back from nearby residents. Some people said they would be concentrating homeless people in one area. (The plan called for the day center to be an extension of services that nonprofit Share already provides.) Other people said the day center wasn’t enough; it should be larger than 3,000 square feet and be adjacent to an overnight shelter.
“We totally understand that no matter where we put a service for the homeless it’s going to have backlash,” said Peggy Sheehan, Vancouver’s community and economic development programs manager.
The housing authority was informed about the situation, she said, and constructing on that property is being held as a “back-pocket possibility.”
“We really don’t have any other places in mind,” Sheehan said.
She said there’s no clear area where a day center would make sense other than near Share House, a homeless shelter for men that also serves meals to homeless people.
Unless the city is going to build a much more expensive facility, the day center has to connect with other services somehow. Sheehan pointed out that if the day center is not located near a place that provides meals, a commercial kitchen would be a costly addition.
Meanwhile, the city has not confirmed whether it will get $200,000 in funding from the state, and talks with Clark County about using deed recording fees to help cover operating costs have been on hold since Mark McCauley was ousted as county manager.
In the meantime, the city extended its lease with Friends of the Carpenter as well as the contract with Share to have its staff continue operating the current day center through the end of December. Originally, the $125,000 year-long contract was going to end in June.
The 1,200-square-foot space in Friends of the Carpenter’s warehouse opened in December 2015 at 1600 W. 20th St,. in an industrial area of west Vancouver. It isn’t viable for the long term, though. The city wasn’t able to get a sewer easement to construct restrooms, showers and laundry facilities. C-Tran also discontinued bus service, and pedestrians face increased truck traffic.
So, the city is considering properties better suited to shelter people during the day.
“People call me with ideas — What about this? What about this? — and I follow up,” Sheehan said.
The nonprofit Concerned Humans Against Poverty is trying to help. Executive Director Richard McCluskey said he’s looking at existing commercial buildings that could be retrofitted, as well as property owned by faith-based organizations. Whenever he finds a possibility, he feeds the idea to the city.
“Apparently, nothing is quite suitable,” McCluskey said.
He said that nobody wants to have a day center for the homeless in their neighborhood, which makes finding a suitable spot challenging and frustrating.
“The sooner we get this going the better,” he said.
The city has to make a decision to prevent a possible service gap between the old and new day centers. How exactly that may pan out remains to be seen.
“As with everything else with homelessness, it’s complicated,” Sheehan said.
