In about a year, the City of Vancouver will create a 150-bed shelter for other homeless people; That’s not up for debate when other people are dying on the streets, city officials say.
“The shelter is paying off,” said Jamie Spinelli, the city’s homeless response officer.
But the city is facing some difficulties in planning what could be the largest publicly funded shelter ever created in Clark County, adding investment to the task amid a $43 million shortfall and public considerations about its location.
However, city staff say that the task they call bridge shelter will be funded only by new sources of profit, and that the location is not kept secret to quell public anger; They simply don’t need value to be lost by revealing that the city is interested in obtaining land.
The public will have a chance to make explicit considerations or give advice about the potential site before the city buys the property, City Manager Eric Holmes said. The city expects backlash wherever the shelter ends.
“No matter where we go, there’s not a single position to establish a homeless facility where other people wouldn’t possibly have a problem,” Holmes said.
In 2021, San Diego faced a challenge to Vancouver: Many other people were living outside, relying on drugs, suffering from intellectual health issues, and being reluctant or unable to get help.
That’s why the San Diego Housing Commission approved a 325-bed transitional shelter called a bridge shelter. The call comes from its mission, to bridge the gap between the homeless and those housed. There, other people can simply treat their addictions and get assistance with their intellectual needs. fitness and housing remedy.
The person who helped create this project commissioned the City of Vancouver to conduct an assessment of how Vancouver is meeting the wishes of its homeless population. Their top suggestion for improvement is a full-service shelter with 150 beds.
In the spring of 2021, other key people experiencing homelessness in Vancouver flew to San Diego to receive more information about the bridge shelter. Spinelli said he needs to see how San Diego handles so many other people in a shelter.
Congregate shelters are their preferred form of housing, Spinelli said, but existing shelters in Vancouver don’t have enough beds for each and every one who needs them. She has noticed the number of homelessness-related deaths increasing each year and knows how harmful it is to live outdoors. Maybe.
When the excessive amount of blood arrived last winter, emergency shelters struggled to accommodate everyone who needed warmth. And on any given day, there are few, if any, beds in Clark County shelters for the thousands of people living outside. Found Colombian.
Since 2022, more than a hundred people have died homeless in Clark County, according to the city and nonprofit organizations that keep track. Many of those deaths are due to overdoses of fentanyl, the most prolific and deadly illicit drug on Vancouver’s streets. .
The Vancouver shelter will feature drug treatment for addictions, which has proven to be the most effective way to prevent fentanyl, which can lead to excruciating withdrawal symptoms.
“Immediate access to the solution is. . . Our best chance for other people to get the assistance they want to avoid using (fentanyl). Having this program incorporated into the shelter is precisely what makes sense,” Spinelli said.
The bridge is home to a key component of the city’s plan to fight homelessness when it declared a civil emergency in November.
For the first time in about a decade, the City of Vancouver will be forced to cut spending to cover the city’s projected general fund shortfall of $43 million for the 2025-2026 budget.
“I don’t need to be associated with anything that could make the situation even worse,” Clark County Council Superintendent Gary Medvigy said at a town hall after the city applied for funding.
But the bridge shelter won’t detract from other city services, Holmes said. The shelter will be funded entirely by new profits (possibly a 0. 001% corporate and professional tax for retailers).
The city also hopes to get one-third of the shelter’s budget from the county’s intellectual aptitude sales tax. This has been a slower procedure than expected, as the allocation is going through a lengthy committee procedure with other investment requests.
But Holmes said the delay has jeopardized the acquisition of the property so far.
The bridge shelter is one of the city’s most expensive efforts to address homelessness. The city’s Safe Stays, transitional housing communities comprising 20 small, shack-like homes, charge about $550,000 to set up and about $470,000 a year to operate and maintain.
The acquisition and construction of the bridge shelter will cost approximately $16 million, in addition to an additional $6 million to $7 million per year for construction.
The difference in charge is due to the increased number of beds, on-site treatment for drug addicts, and property acquisition prices. Most of the land on which Safe Stays are located has been donated or is owned by the government.
“The city doesn’t own assets that would allow something like this (refuge bridge), so that would mean an acquisition of property,” Spinelli said. “The acquisition of an asset itself is expensive. “
Spinelli said many other people need the shelter built on the outskirts of town, away from businesses and out of sight.
“That’s what we’re interested in, because we need to build a community, separate them,” Spinelli said. “The closer you get, the more expensive it is to own. “
Other expenses are added to the city’s budget, such as food, 24-hour staff, plumbing and maintenance.
“I think (the cost) is probably shocking to people, but if you look at the prices of other homes and then you bring up the fact that we’re in treatment, I don’t think it’s that crazy,” Spinelli said.
The shelter will also likely save the city money in the long run, as well as potentially save lives, Spinelli said. which leads to prison sentences and regular calls to emergency services.
“It’s expensive to leave other people out,” Spinelli said.
City staff know the location of the bridge shelter but are not in a position to share it. This has caused some fear among county councilmembers when deciding whether to contribute financially to the project.
“One of the things they discussed is passage through the shelter. . . unless there is a defect in the property, not based on feedback from the network. I think that’s what a lot of constituents have a challenge with,” Clark County Councilmember Michelle said. Belkot said at a recent meeting.
“Because some city constituents have told me that there are limits to public comment and they also feel that there is a lack of transparency. When they ask where the shelter is, they themselves can’t get a transparent answer from the city.
The city’s third safe stay in downtown Vancouver drew complaints from neighbors in 2022 when a downtown vacant lot was chosen as a candidate site, though many now say the network is quiet and citizens are usually left alone.
Once negotiations are finalized and an initial agreement is reached, the city can announce the potential location and initiate public engagement, so citizens can voice their thoughts or suggestions. The city council will decide whether to proceed with the final acquisition of the site after this public process. Holmes said.
The city will solicit comments on assets that would make it unviable as a place of refuge or suggestions for innovations for the bridge shelter, not knowing whether or not other people need shelter.
“We’re doing it because it’s urgent,” Holmes said.