UPDATE: VOA Downtown Now Only Site Currently Being Studied For Expanded Shelter Site

Editor’s Update 2:00 PM Friday 11/6/2020: It seems our article has stirred up some changes and clarifications. The former Sears store on Everett Mall Way is officially not under consideration as a shelter location.

This morning we spoke by email with Ray Chavez, the General Manager of the Everett Mall. At 12:10 PM they responded as follows on our social media posts about Sears as a location under consideration for a shelter site in Everett and Mr. Chavez confirmed to MyEverettNews.com this is their position.

Redevelopment has always been planned for Everett Mall and we are evaluating opportunities for alternate shopping experiences at the Center. The conversion of the Sears building to a shelter site is not part of those redevelopment plans. It should be noted that the City of Everett and Snohomish County did not consult with us prior to releasing their recommendations. We look forward to sharing final plans that will best complement the Everett Metro and surrounding communities.

At 1:50 PM we received the following email from City of Everett Communications Director Kimberely Cline.

Could you update your article to reflect that since the 10/20 email was sent to City Council, the County has removed the former Sears parcel from its list of properties under consideration? We’d appreciate it if you could also remove the mention of Sears from the headline.

At 1:55 PM we received the following email from Kent Patton, Communications Director at the Snohomish County Executive’s Office.

The list is prepared by facilities folks who are looking for: 1) empty buildings; 2) of a certain size or larger. The Sears building was never considered by our Human Services team as an option. It just happened to fit the generic criteria.

Original story posted 10/5/2020: At the Everett City Council meeting Wednesday night Mary Jane Brell-Vujovic, Director of Snohomish County Human Services, told council members that there are two locations that engender further study as the County looks to relocate the current shelter in the basement of the Carnegie building in downtown Everett.

Right now the shelter at Carnegie operates at night and is limited to around 44 people. The goal is to locate a facility to serve around five dozen people providing sheltering year-round coupled with day-time amenities such as showers, laundry, meals, storage, and access to services for people experiencing homelessness and living on the streets of Everett, Washington.

Thursday Kimberely Cline, Director of Communications for the City of Everett provided MyEverettNews.com a copy of an email sent to Everett City Council members on October 20th highlighting the selection criteria and identifying the two locations out of a dozen that had been considered.

Hello Council Members,
I am providing a follow up regarding the County Grant Allocation- Carnegie Building Shelter Relocation and Expansion which intends to locate a suitable new location for the current Carnegie Building Shelter and expand to have day-time amenities.

City and County staff met last week to review a list of possible locations throughout the City of Everett and into adjacent county parcels to determine if there are any viable building that could be utilized for a new shelter location. Criteria for these locations include land use, building safety, life safety within the building, access to transit, and proximity to neighbors.

In this vetting process, two parcels out of 12 that were identified by city and county real properties staff met the necessary criteria for moving forward. The County plans to contact these properties to tour them and determine if they are viable locations to re-locate the shelter services.

The two parcels under consideration are:
Former Sears 1302 SE Everett Mall Way, Everett
VOA on 27th and Broadway 2802 Broadway, Everett, WA 98201

Please let me know if you have any questions specific to this update.

The email was sent to the council members by Julie Wille, Director of Everett’s Community Development Division. The County is proposing to spend $2.4 million dollars to secure a building and remodel it to meet the needs of those experiencing homelessness in Everett. As part of the briefing Wednesday night the council was reminded that per a Supreme Court decision that came out of Boise, Idaho police can’t prohibit people from sleeping on sidewalks or public areas unless they have a place to take those people and right now there is a serious shortage of space to accomplish that task.

The expanded shelter would help with that as would a pilot project using shelters made by Pallet, a company based here in Everett. Amy King, CEO of Pallet spoke with council members, invited them to tour their facility and gave examples of shelters in use in Tacoma and at Edmonds College.

The City of Everett proposes to use $735,149.00 to house 20-30 people in partnership with a local church, non-profit or other entity. Right now the timeline is up in the air for both projects and Director Willie told the City Council they hoped to get a contract in front of the them in three or four weeks.