Volunteers of America representatives present to the neighborhood at a meeting about the shelter plans held the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Northshore Church in the neighborhood.
Photo by Michael Whitney.
EVERETT — Neighbors of a proposed temporary tiny house shelter at the corner of Glenwood Avenue and Sievers Duecy Boulevard on a small section of currently vacant city land came to Northshore Church's chapel for an information meeting in late November.
Volunteers of America Western Washington (VOAWW) plans to place 20 Pallet shelters for women and children in homelessness here.
The shelter site could open as soon as February, city homeless response coordinator Ben Breeden said.
Neighbors have been split, especially on local social media such as NextDoor. Years ago, the site was promised to be the expansion of the Phil Johnson Ballfields. However, the city has no immediate park development plans, which is one reason why it is offering half an acre for this use.
It has bus access nearby, and Amazon is across the street with flexible jobs.
Neighbor Alexis Coogan said she’s “totally for it” because of how the shelter project will help others.
Her and about 16 other neighbors came to the Northshore meeting Nov. 21.
The 20 tiny homes will only house pregnant women and women with children.
Serving this demographic of people in homelessness is deliberate, VOAWW deputy chief operating officer Chris Eck said.
"We've been talking about the lack of resources for this group," Eck said. Countywide homelessness data showed about one in 10 homeless households have children. There were 202 homeless youth counted among the 1,285 people found in the informal survey.
Homeless families with men could use other services. However, Interfaith Family Shelter is one of the only ones around. It has 21 spaces in a north Everett dormitory, and the Pallet shelter hosted at Faith Lutheran Church which broke ground in August and is almost open will add eight more spaces. (Interfaith is coordinating the homeless population housed within Faith Lutheran's tiny homes.)
Some of the children haven't had their fathers involved in their lives, said Galina Volchkova, the VOA's senior director for housing services.
VOAWW intends to run the shelter for up to three years. City code allows the emergency shelter's site permit to be renewed on a yearly basis.
Most residents will not stay longer than 12 months, VOAWW representatives said. The nonprofit already has a department that arranges rapid rehousing of people into permanent housing with a network of landlords, Volchkova said.
The shelter will exclusively house Everett homeless individuals, and will not be tied to the McKinney-Vento program, Eck said.
Case managers would guide the residents toward joining the workforce and provide transportation help.
The shelter is still going through permitting. The Nov. 21 meeting was one of the last steps as part of considering the permits.
The site would be fenced off and not visible from the street, city community development director Julie Willie said in a June presentation to the City Council.
More than one neighbor wondered how the women would be kept safe.
The residents in the shelter would have security present, and all visitors must be pre-approved, Eck said. No overnight visitors would be allowed; the planned curfew is 10 p.m.
These would be low-barrier shelters. It would be the city's third site, after the Pallet shelters behind the Everett Gospel Mission and the upcoming Faith Lutheran site.
If any resident violates the rules, they'd need to relocate. VOAWW would work to move them into hotels, detox centers and other programs, Volchkova said.
The city bought the shelter units. It owns the 20 shelter units waiting for placement, Willie said in June. The city used federal coronavirus dollars for the purchases.
The site was once a huge mining quarry for the Associated Sand and Gravel company opened in 1939. Its company owner later became CEMEX.
The start of the Phil Johnson Ballfields came through an earlier sale of one of the parcels in 2001. In the late 2010s, CEMEX arranged to transfer its remaining acres to the city as it closed this plant. The company had almost 60 acres fronting Sievers-Duecy Boulevard, plus 35 at the north corner.
The residential neighborhood was built up around the plant as it sold unneeded land; it had a much larger footprint when it opened in 1939.
