Dana Sullivan (in jacket) yells a frustrated plea at county human services planner Tyler Verda (standing at right) to not relocate homeless shelter services into the Glacier View Neighborhood during the Wednesday, April 5 meeting in the basement of Hope Church.
EVERETT — After neighborhood backlash, county leaders retracted on possibly buying the Hope Covenant Church, 4502 Rucker Ave., to shelter people experiencing homelessness until the Mayor and City Council gives the idea a joint endorsement.
County representatives faced hostility and pleas during two evening meetings last week packed with residents who live around Hope Church. Some cried, others said the county doesn’t care about them and some interrupted the panel of county officials.
The city had asked the county to relocate homeless services out of downtown for months now, a memo said.
After being pilloried for two nights, though, an executive in county administration issued a memo to city officials asking Everett to be more involved, including in any future public outreach meetings.
On Friday, Mayor Cassie Franklin issued a statement that she is supportive of adding shelter sites, “but we do need to be sure they are suitable sites.” Franklin said the city will be talking internally and to ensure the public’s “concerns are appropriately addressed by the County before this project moves forward any further,” Franklin said.
The county has a contract that expires in June to run a year-round shelter of 40 beds at United Church of Christ (UCC), 2624 Rockefeller Ave., downtown. What of them? There is no concrete answer yet whether service will continue there.
Kelsey Nyland, a county spokesperson, said by email Friday that the "next steps will be determined through internal coordination and discussions with the city about how they would like to proceed."
The city didn't give a specific answer when the Tribune asked if city administration could say if it would be OK with the county
renewing its arrangement at UCC beyond June.
In February, an executive in county administration, Ken Klein, wrote to an Everett City Council member that “it’s critical we find a new location for this shelter or else 40 additional individuals will once again become homeless on Everett streets.”
Last week’s public meetings about the church were one of many steps the county was taking before considering making a purchase, county officials said, but many people who live beyond 1,000 feet from the site complained they’d also be affected but weren’t told about the plan.
Some 100 area residents came to the April 5 meeting after neighbors spread alarms door-to-door.
Hundreds of middle-class families live in the neighborhoods off of Evergreen. A few said the idea is an affront to how they worked to buy their homes.
“I worked really hard to get into this neighborhood,“ paying $600,000 a couple of years ago, “and there is nothing you can say to say this is good for my family,” public school teacher Elena Reiss said.
Plumber Dana Sullivan pointed to his kids and yelled at the panel. “I struggled to buy my home here and you’re going to sink that ship,” he said.
Some residents said homeless services should stay in downtown. More than one said to put the shelter in the closed Behar’s Furniture store on north Broadway, where other social services are nearby.
The county already was striving to find a replacement shelter site with nearby transit and public services when the Hope Church property landed on its radar as a tip from the city last fall.
Talks began in November and and in January the executive’s office signed a memo stating its interest in the site.
County leaders emphasized last week it has no formal purchase agreement to buy the church. “There are no agreements in place, no commitments,” Alessandra Durham of the County Executive’s office told the crowd.
County officials described why the Hope Church site is attractive: it requires few renovations, and has good proximity to bus stops, a grocery store and other needs.
At the future shelter site to replace UCC, people housed would be given wraparound service and have to follow a conduct agreement. The placements would be people “who have a track record of being able to live in shelters without violating” conduct codes, said Mary Jane Brell Vujovic, the director of the county’s Human Service Department.
The county hasn’t decided whether registered sex offenders could be among those sheltered, officials said.
The site would also be used for cold weather shelter programs.
“Hope Church reached out to the city first on potentially selling the property” and the city passed this lead over to the county, city spokeswoman Simone Tarver said.
Hope’s Lead Pastor Bill Walles declined discussing details with the Tribune because the land deal is a “pending legal matter.”
