Photo courtesy Hope 'N Wellness
EVERETT — Location, location, location.
A resource center near Pacific and Rucker that primarily serves homeless individuals has been told by the city to halt services here by Oct. 21 or risk civil penalties because the zoning code for most of downtown doesn’t allow social services on the first floor.
But to its operators and supporters, they say it’s in exactly the right spot for the population it serves. The courthouse is within walking distance as are other downtown services.
And for Jasmine Donahue, its operator, she’s scratching her head about what to do and searching for help.
In 2020, Hope ‘N Wellness opened in the former Sirens coffee house, across from the Health District’s building, but only put its sign up in fall 2023. Around that time, the city visited to look around, and shortly before Christmas 2023, the city handed her a warning letter about violating the zoning rules.
She’d been worried when the other shoe might drop. That came Sept. 19.
If it was about four blocks south of where it is, outside of the Metro Everett zoning area for downtown, being on the first floor wouldn’t be an issue.
Hope ‘N Wellness isn’t in an easy position to move. The space rent is below-cost because the building owner supports its efforts. Its second floor is not available to her.
In January, the city set a meeting where she was presented the city’s goal to establish a relocation plan within 90 days, with the city’s homeless response coordinator and other city employees involved in finding a new place. She fundamentally replied it’s not enough time.
She opened a satellite office south of 41st Street near 43rd and Rucker as a precaution. It can’t offer the public services the downtown site has, and she thinks few on foot or by wheelchair would come. Distance “is its own barrier,” Donahue said.
Jeni Arndt, who works for a social services organization and knew Donahue for years, said Hope ‘N Wellness “is in the location where she can do the most good.”
“I’m completely baffled why Everett can say ‘we don’t want this,’ ” Arndt said.
Hope ‘N Wellness gives wraparound services for an average of 500 people a month. It does peer counseling, sign ups for housing and employment case management, and a no-judgement place to relax. Donahue said it has some similarities to Everett Recovery Cafe, also downtown.
The agency has a contract with the state to get people housing and employment, and won a grant with the state Health Care Authority to increase its peer counseling, with a focus on people who are Black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC).
Its drop-in time is open only on Wednesdays and sees about 50 to 75 visitors.
Inside, there’s free clothing. There’s a shower space accessible to people in wheelchairs. There’s an area where homeless people’s belongings are stored for when they attend court, because their possessions could otherwise get stolen on the streets.
Donahue’s big thing is to give a zero-judgment atmosphere — if somebody has a DV situation, a warrant, or something else, they can still come, she said. Some visitors are housed and in recovery.
The building downtown isn’t the catch. Being on the first floor is.
City spokeswoman Simone Tarver said in a statement that the city needs to balance needs. North Everett has a high saturation of social services, she said, and the city’s interest is to spread it out.
The city “continues to work with social service organizations to find locations that follow the regulations set, which in turn allows them to help meet the needs of our vulnerable residents. Regulations (are) set to help meet the needs of our vulnerable residents. It’s crucial these facilities are sited appropriately. We want to see our social service providers be successful. And at the same time, limiting additional services on the ground floor in our historic downtown supports continued growth and success of our small businesses and overall tourism – important components of our local economy and quality of life.”
“We want to see Everett thrive in all ways,” she wrote.
The City Council can adjust the downtown plan’s rules. Recently it did so to approve letting childbirth centers on the ground floor in response to an organization asking. A substance use disorder counseling service’s request, by comparison, saw no traction by city administration last year. Avoiding clusters downtown was a primary reason.
The downtown zoning plan was to guide growth and the look of downtown. It put in place the rule prohibiting all social services and most types of clinics from the ground floor of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) and Pedestrian Streets. By the map, Metro Everett’s rules ban these in the whole downtown core west of Broadway.
More than one council member told the Tribune that changing the rules to permit social services on the ground floor would be daunting from a political standpoint.
Councilwoman Liz Vogeli said the city should formulate a way for social service providers to get a conditional use permit within Metro Everett if the circumstances necessitate the ground floor.
