Sheltering and expanding sheltering for homeless people in Auburn was the top action item to come out of the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness when it wrapped up its work in April 2016.
And as Dana Hinman, director of administration for the City of Auburn, revealed Monday night at City Hall, the City took that recommendation and is running with it.
That is, in partnership with Valley Cities and the Auburn Food Bank, the City of Auburn will operate a day shelter and an overnight shelter on a vacant lot Valley Cities has donated temporarily at 2536 I St. NE. to provide for the day shelter structure – a construction trailer – that the City is leasing. Likewise, Valley Cities will not only provide the use of its Common Building to provide nighttime services but also reallocate its outreach worker staff to support shelter clients
According to Hinman, the food bank is to provide staff, food and resource connections for the day sheltering operation, and Puget Sound Energy has sped up work to provide temporary power to the site.
The effort has energized a wide swath of City staff as well, Hinman said.
“Everyone’s involved with this – economic development, human services, planning and public works, the whole nine yards, and it’s definitely been a team project,” Hinman said.
While the operating hours will be Monday to Friday, the City intends to expand the times to seven days a week as it finalizes its operational model.
Hinman estimates the shelter will open within a month.
The portable building has been leased, and the City is awaiting delivery after PSE installs the power, the providers have worked out an initial operational model for the day and night services, and City staff have begun the permitting process.
Hinman said it will remain open for a year and a half while the City works with agencies, private funders and regional partners to create more housing and affordable housing options in Auburn.
Hinman said the City will continue to work closely with its regional partners to find stable, permanent housing for the homeless in Auburn.
“We are working closely with Debbie Christian at the Auburn Food Bank and Ken Taylor at Valley Cities, who are running point on the operational portion of the sheltering. We have had conversations with Catholic Community Services, WorkSource … around the operational plan of how we are going to provide not only sheltering but wrap-around services at the site, which is extremely important in any venture of this nature,” Hinman said.
The Mayor’s Homelessness Task Force, composed of community leaders, police and fire, the school district, service providers, residents, members of the faith community, police and fire, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, business owners and key city staff, sought to better understand the scope and causes of homelessness in Auburn, the systems in place to address homelessness and considered the range of concerns and ideas the community identified.
