Transitional housing outlined in proposal as Bremerton vote on shelter option nears

In September, a collective of social service providers and representatives from the city of Bremerton and Kitsap County took a tour through a 40-unit "pallet community" in Everett, called Palisades Village. The site was billed as a success story in progress, transforming a city neighborhood once known as “tweakerville” into a place made up of transitional housing support, or tiny homes.

Among those scouting for ideas on homeless shelter options were Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler, Jill Stanton of the Bremerton House Authority, Tony Ives of Kitsap Community Resources, Joe Crain of Bremerton's St. Vincent DePaul agency, and Doug Washburn from Kitsap County’s Human Services Department.

Now, months later and several weeks after a major homeless encampment was cleared near downtown Bremerton, Wheeler has proposed for a low-barrier congregate shelter on West Bremerton's Oyster Bay Avenue. At the same time, the group of social services providers has put forth a proposal to create a hybrid shelter solution in the form of a pallet community, or perhaps two, along with a shelter. Though neither has finalized specific costs for building and operation, the Bremerton City Council is scheduled to discuss each option and may vote January 17 to confirm a preference for a city plan to address how to provide some additional shelter to residents without homes.

In the meantime, however, social service providers hope stakeholders will consider adopting an option that will include transitional housing in hopes of bolstering the local “continuum of care” while the pressure is on.

Discussing a hybrid shelter option

At the city council's December 13 meeting, the night councilmembers delayed a vote on Wheeler's proposed congregate shelter, a packet was distributed with the "hybrid" option – a pallet community and a smaller congregate shelter – proposed by Kitsap Community Resources, the Bremerton Housing Authority and St. Vincent DePaul, based on their experience working with a population that includes people who are homeless.

“That's why we're so passionate about this at this juncture, because we're going to be some of the primary utilizers and our clients especially – the people that we're passionate about – are going to be utilizers of whatever's proposed,” Joe Crain, executive director of St. Vincent DePaul said in a recent interview. “We have the framework on how this exists in the process, how this exists and operates holistically amongst the entire continuum of housing.”

Crain and other leaders behind what's being called the joint proposal say a focus on transitional housing and accessible supportive services are needed to create a better “continuum of care” in the community – that is, a variety of different programs with different functions that accumulate into wrap around services for community members in need across the spectrum of housing. That means partnerships with city and county governments who can help set the infrastructure for lasting results.

“I think in the past there's been this idea that social service providers have kind of idealistic answers, that there's very simple answers,” said Monica Bernhard of Kitsap Mental Health Services. “I think the service providers of today are very much partners with the city, with the county, with the planning departments. We want to work together to find a solution that works for everybody and not impose an answer on the community.”

The joint proposal suggests a hybrid shelter solution that includes a 40-unit open air low-barrier pallet shelter for longer-term transitional housing on one site, near the Mills Crossing apartments in East Bremerton now owned by KCR, and a 20-bed low-barrier congregate shelter for short-term entry at another site that has yet to be identified. The congregate shelter would have facilities, secure amnesty boxes, a secure perimeter and 24/7 security, proponents say, pulling inspiration from Palisades Village in Everett.

“It's a portfolio of ideas and, and concepts and it depends upon what best fits the neighborhood or the funding source or the needs of the community,” said Tony Ives of Kitsap Community Resources. “All we're doing is throwing out options.”

On December 29, Wheeler issued a statement further supporting his pursuit of a large congregate shelter alone and, while addressing the joint proposal, stated his was the only immediate option to successfully shelter the city’s homeless and keep the streets clear.

“I do agree with the main goal to provide enough low-barrier walk up space so that we can enforce our ordinance, but at the same time, that doesn't exclude us from providing a continuum of care to folks to make sure that they don't just end up back on the street,” city councilman Jeff Coughlin, who was city council president in 2023, when the vote was delayed, said in response.

Stanton, of the Bremerton Housing Authority, insisted the social services agencies have been in communication and collaboration with the city and county on homelessness solutions.

“I think that we all need to be working together on this – I don't think there needs to be separate paths,” she said. “We want to provide what we see as the long term and for that to be incorporated into whatever the plan for the county or the city shelter options are going to be.”

Addressing immediate need, while also seeking options

But the clock is ticking on a shelter decision and the topic of homelessness is volatile in the community while conversations over safety and enforcing the unauthorized camping ordinance take place. While some unhoused campers relocated to the Salvation Army shelter in November, others have relocated and encampments have developed on the outskirts of Bremerton and Silverdale. Wheeler says a vote must be made soon, otherwise the shelter project could be delayed a year.

“We have limited resources… they're going to be limited no matter what,” Stanton said. “So let's just say the resources are enough to house, in some way or some manner, a hundred people. Those hundred people need options – they're not all going to fit into one option.”

Stanton recognizes that Wheeler must thread the needle through a complex canvas between neighborhood safety concerns, the city’s duty to enforce the campaign ordinance, the need for a shelter option come spring, finite resources for a yet-to-be-determined budget and transparency with residents and their local government.

Stanton too wants to find a solution that will support unhoused people beyond just putting a roof over their head, without being detrimental to the surrounding community.

A point of entry to transitional housing 

Recognizing the immediate need to establish a shelter, the collective also emphasized the need to do so correctly, with a path to more stable housing.

“I think the period of time (for unhoused people to spend in a congregate shelter) needs to be very short because people can experience significant trauma in those types of shelters,” Stanton said, referencing risk of assault and sickness, inadequate storage space for belongings and close proximity to others while sleeping as frequent deterrents for unhoused people.

“Emergency shelter, transitional, and then permanent housing options ought to be options that don't further cause trauma,” Stanton said. “Their lives have been hard and a major reason that they're not successful in having permanent, safe, affordable housing is because they haven't healed from trauma that's happened… If we put everybody into one kind of basket or one pot, we won't achieve that. There's no way, because we're all different.”

Emergency shelter can, and does, come in many different forms, said the collective. The “continuum of care” currently in Kitsap County already includes year-round shelters like Benedict House, the Kitsap Rescue Mission’s Quality Inn rooms, the YWCA, Eagle’s Wings, the Stella Maris House and the pending Kitsap Rescue Mission facility coming in 2024 to Port Orchard – there just aren't any available beds.

When someone needs shelter in a state of homelessness or emergency, they will need different services with different amounts of intensity depending on who they are, whether they need a women's shelter, family shelter, if they have mental health issues, substance dependency or a brief hand up after economic hardship, Bernhard said. Just as a family with children couldn’t be appropriately sheltered congruently with someone with severe mental health issues, not all unhoused people should be lumped together with one solution.

“Towards the beginning of the continuum, we need a sustainable entry point, one that considers people's dignity,” Crain said.

Following Wheeler’s statement on December 29, Anton Preisenger of Northwest Hospitality, a nonprofit that provides services on a small scale to homeless individuals, criticized the mayor’s congregate shelter proposal as inadequate. In an email, Preisenger said “the only way to avoid the unrestricted camping that occurred in our neighborhoods this past summer, and is still rampant in the face of inadequate resources and housing, is to actually provide people with the housing and resources they need to be secure.”

The collective envisions a congregate shelter that could catch unhoused people when they are in need, but to move them along the continuum within 24 to 72 hours by connecting them with onsite services like mental health, primary care, substance use and housing navigation. The tandem pallet units could serve as one additional option for transitional housing so that people can prepare for independent living in subsidized or unsubsidized housing further down the continuum.

“From our perspective, you can't just talk about the congregate shelter without a plan for transitioning into permanent housing,” Stanton said. “That really limits what we're trying to achieve… They're only going to be successful in what we can provide them if they are able to get over some of the barriers that caused them to be in an unhoused situation at the beginning.”

“They absolutely need that emergency shelter to stabilize first and then move along the continuum,” Bernhard said. But, “you want to be able to get people ultimately to that place where they're able to live with the dignity of permanent housing without that fear of ‘where am I going to be tomorrow? Where am I going to be next week?’”

Collaboration to move people along continuum

Once unhoused guests at a congregate shelter connect with case management or get the treatment they need, they can stabilize and heal enough to begin transitioning to independent living, Stanton said. They may need subsidized housing, which is where Bremerton Housing Authority comes in.

While specialized shelters beyond the Salvation Army’s winter-only facility remain full, the Bremerton Housing Authority is working to free up beds. BHA is partnering with shelters like the Stella Maris House and the Kitsap Rescue Mission to identify current guests who are ready to use housing vouchers.

“There are people in those units that, if they had a voucher or they had a subsidized housing option, are ready to move on,” Stanton said. Though few, the BHA itself has a handful of vacancies at any given time during the year through turnover.

If there is not quick movement through the housing continuum, starting at the emergency shelter level, there will be costs.

“If everybody that comes into the shelter system stays three or six months, then not as many people are going to get served,” Bernhard said. “If you have a place for people to go (next), you create way more capacity within the existing system… that opens up that same shelter capacity for the next person to come in.”

A ticking clock to get people sheltered

For other service providers, the quickest option is a necessity.

Following the opening of the Salvation Army’s winter shelter on November 1 and the subsequent clearing of encampments on MLK Way and Broadway Avenue, the volunteer service organization Rock the Block reported that nine homeless or previously homeless individuals died from various causes, including drug overdoses. They worry that more deaths will follow that abnormally large number this winter, as campers have scattered.

“I strongly advocate for supporting any approach to provide shelter for our unhoused neighbors,” said Kimmy Siebens of Rock the Block. “Delaying action in the pursuit of a perfect solution can exacerbate the current situation.”

If the city plan covers the most basic necessity with a low-barrier congregate shelter, that can save lives, Siebens said.

“While we continue working towards more sustainable solutions, such as affordable housing options, improved accessibility to mental health and substance abuse treatment, and better job opportunities that offer a living wage.”

Stanton, however, believes that options like the collective's hybrid shelter model can be established just as fast as a congregate shelter. Right now Wheeler's proposal calls for an Oyster Bay facility to be finished around the fall of 2024. The collective has been looking at different properties and discussing owning and leasing options for their potential locations, she said.

As the city council approaches the vote on January 17, the joint proposal for a hybrid shelter is being considered. Wheeler's administration estimates that the design and construction alone for the project could cost between $1.6 million and $4 million, but complete budgets have not been identified for either project or will be part of the vote. The city did set aside a total of $2.4 million in its 2024 budget for shelter solutions, amassing funds from ARPA, REET and the water utility fund.

“I think we have due diligence to compare (Wheeler’s proposal) to other proposals that may be able to use other existing buildings for something that's far cheaper and quicker,” Coughlin said.

The service providers collective will continue to present homeless solution options to Wheeler, the city council and Kitsap County commissioners until a decision is made, Crain said.

“It's not ‘our way or the highway,’” Bernhard said. “We are going to work with whatever the final decisions that are made and do whatever we can to support a successful outcome.”

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Homeless service providers talk hybrid shelter option for city council