Homeless shelter’s stay extended at West Seattle church

As reported two months ago, the homeless shelter that moved into West Seattle Church of the Nazarene at 42nd/Juneau in March of last year was supposed to move to Ballard — but its planned new temporary home in Ballard fell through. Now, according to this story posted tonight at seattlepi.com, the shelter’s West Seattle stay has just been extended again — to June 1st — because parent organization SHARE hasn’t found a new place for it. The article also says the Community of Christ Church in Highland Park recently “evicted” a shelter it had hosted for seven years.

HMC Rich April 19, 2009 (10:48 pm)

The church does a nice job. We live close by and you wouldn’t really know what is going on there. I walk our dog and our child by there all the time. My hats off to the church.

RainyDay1235 April 20, 2009 (8:43 am)

Love to see Mars Hill do something like this….

Teneighty April 20, 2009 (8:49 am)

Mars Hill would be a perfect choice, but you’re right, they’d never even offer. The pastor at W Seattle Nazarene gives a massive lesson in extravagant giving, and just what it means to be “blessed to be a blessing”.

westseattleite April 20, 2009 (10:31 am)

I live in the area and we have had zero issues with this shelter, it’s too bad Ballard voted against it. That’s interesting about Mars Hill, I guess their too busy twittering.

Ex-Westwood Resident April 20, 2009 (12:40 pm)

Ballard DID NOT vote against it. The church where they were to move has requested that the occupiers of their land have background checks to see if any of the men are sex-offenders.
SHARE is denying the request and the church has said until the checks are done they will not allow their land to be used.

Ex-Westwood Resident April 20, 2009 (12:56 pm)

10-80, You know I know of a place where there are approximately 200, if not more, rooms that can room 2 people VERY comfortably, has multiple showers/bathrooms, even has an on site kitchen with dinning area WELL within walking distance, in fact less than 500′. It has the ability to have controlled entry and security. You can segregated them into male only, female only and male/female if wanted.
These building are made of brick and were updated in the 90’s to meet all fire and earthquake standards.
They are currently UNOCCUPIED right now and OWNED by the City of Seattle.
Where is this place???
It is the old Sand Point Naval Station barracks and Galley.
I worked there and though they are not 4-Star accommodations, if they were good enough for our Sailors, then they are good enough for the homeless that have nothing.

Ex-Westwood Resident April 20, 2009 (12:57 pm)

By the way, when those rooms were being used by sailors – they had four guys to a room, so the rooms are not small by any means.

lina April 20, 2009 (8:34 pm)

i work over at sand point for one of the non-profit offices there and many of the buildings are boarded up. i was under the assumption though that this was because of unsafe conditions/asbestos or lead paint. if they are safe, than this seems like not a bad idea. although i imagine it is much more affordable for share to join in with a congregation

Ex-Westwood Resident April 21, 2009 (7:38 am)

When the US Navy turned barracks over to the city one of the stipulations was that they met ALL codes for occupancy. But who knows what state they are in now with the lack of maintenance and upkeep not done, due to the cities ignorance.
As far as the cost…SHARE and it’s co-organization WHEEL, have REPEATEDLY turned down permanent locations for a homeless encampment because of the publicity that these tent cities get when they move. Those organizations are more concerned with getting in the papers/news than actually taking care of the problem.
That is one of the reasons they are protesting/denying the background checks of the West Seattle group in their move to Ballard, it gets them in the news. The church wants the background check to be performed to know who will be living in the area. They have not stated that anyone would be denied admittance because they are a sex-offender.
The cost could be defrayed by working with the city/county/state and shifting funds from other programs.
Which programs???
If it was up to me, I would take ALL money from programs that aid/benefit/assist ILLEGAL aliens in ANY WAY and put it in a program that takes care of homeless US citizens, esp. those homeless families with children.

Sorry, comment time is over.