Everett Considering 20 “Pallet Shelters” For Those Experiencing Homelessness

The shelter can be assembled quickly and reused.

A description of the Pallet Shelter. Click to enlarge.

At their Wednesday night meeting members of the Everett City Council will get a briefing on a plan to spend a grant of $735,139.00 to begin a pilot shelter program for up to 20 reusable shelters made by Pallet. Here is a brief description from Snohomish County who is administering the grant.

Everett is proposing to identify a managing agency to identify and stand up an appropriate location, inside or outside Everett, to pilot a year-round shelter program using up to 20 Pallet Homes. Pallet Homes could be used to expand shelter beds connected to an existing program or in conjunction with a new program. Possible locations could be on land owned by a non-profit, church, business, or government entity.

On top of finding a partner and a place to locate 20 shelters there are other considerations as the individual Pallet shelters do not have kitchens or bath facilities. Here is a link to an example of how the shelters were used in Sonoma County, California.

In addition to the Pallet shelters for Everett, Snohomish County is looking at spending $2.4 million dollars to address issues with the Carnegie Building in downtown Everett, Washington. Here is an overview.

Fencing surrounds the Carnegie Building at the corner of Oakes and Wall Street in downtown Everett.

Snohomish County is proposing to utilize its share of Shelter Grant Program funds to determine a suitable new location for the current Carnegie Building Shelter being operated by The Salvation Army. Prior to the pandemic, this facility sheltered 66 individuals. The census has been reduced to 40-44 individuals to support social distancing during the pandemic. We are seeking to house the number of individuals in the pre-pandemic census in a facility which is better equipped to meet the needs of its residents with sheltering year-round coupled with day-time amenities such as showers, laundry, meals, storage, and access to services.

We are proposing to provide the City with a list of potential sites with an analysis of the benefits and challenges of each. We are also proposing to select the site based on joint review and consensus between City of Everett and Snohomish County staff. The date by which projects must be identified and retrofitted is October 31, 2020. The County is also proposing to utilize a portion of its funds to issue a Request for Proposals to create and operate year-rounding regional shelters in North County and in Sky Valley.

Last Friday MyEverettNews.com reached out to Snohomish County officials by email asking the following questions about the above-referenced potential sites.

Which locations have been identified by the County or the City of Everett and have any been retrofitted as of yet?

Have neighborhoods in the proposed locations been notified and what is the process for that moving forward?

What is the status of the timeline for the relocation of the Carnegie Shelter and what is the plan for the period between now and the opening of the new facility as temps drop in November and December?

We have yet to receive a response to our questions.

Here is a look at what is being proposed for other cities outside of Everett as provided by Snohomish County.

• Edmonds will be utilizing its funds to provide hotel/motel vouchers in South County to individuals experiencing homelessness.
• Lake Stevens will be utilizing its funds to provide hotel/motel vouchers in the vicinity to individuals experiencing homelessness.
• Lynnwood will be utilizing its funds to provide hotel/motel vouchers in South County to individuals experiencing homelessness.
• Marysville will be utilizing a portion of its funds to provide hotel/motel vouchers to individuals experiencing homelessness in North County and a portion to provide staff support to individuals placed into homes on properties donated for this use.
• A notation on the city allocations: The reason the use of hotel/motel vouchers is the most feasible option for several jurisdictions is that they do not have the volume of individuals experiencing homelessness to make the establishment of a stand-alone shelter financially feasible.

  Again the Everett City Council is just getting a briefing as part of a very full Wednesday night meeting and at this point may choose to not move forward on the Pallet shelter plan or not move forward with the contract approval that is being sought by Snohomish County. Those choices will be made at a future meeting.