Nonprofits changing course on housing

Tiny homes replacing hybrid shelter concept

Conor Wilson

Kitsap Sun USA TODAY NETWORK

BREMERTON – A group of nonprofits announced Monday they will back away from plans to build a hybrid homeless shelter at a property along Sheridan Road, saying moving forward with the idea would invite significant conflict.

Leaders from the four agencies – the Bremerton Housing Authority, Kitsap Mental Health Services, Kitsap Community Resources and St. Vincent de Paul — wrote in an open letter Feb. 23 that they now plan to use the vacant 5-acre property for a tiny home project. Bremerton Housing Authority, which owns the land, will also explore other housing options.

The decision to pivot away from the hybrid shelter model comes after five months of uncertainty, and axes a shelter project that has been in development for over two years. It leaves

the city with no clear path to erect a congregate shelter to replace the Salvation Army, a 94-bed facility that recently cut its daytime hours due to a funding loss and faces additional financial uncertainty past June.

The city council tasked the nonprofits with developing a shelter concept on their behalf two years ago, after rejecting another project on city owned property along Oyster Bay Avenue that was proposed by Mayor Greg Wheeler. The hope was a new shelter could provide a permanent replacement for the Salvation Army.

Nonprofit leaders unveiled plans for a hybrid shelter project in September. The concept called for building a campus along Sheridan Road at Lower Wheaton Way with an 80-bed congregate shelter, 60 pallet shelters, and wrap-around services. City council members expressed almost immediate pushback to that idea and the chosen site along Sheridan Road.

In January, the nonprofit’s returned to the city council to ask if it still supported the shelter at the Sheridan property. In a letter signed by Rebelowski, responding to that and other requests, the city council wrote they were “not in a position to direct how BHA develops its site” or to “affirm a specific shelter model.” Nonprofit leaders expressed their opinion that the council’s letter “ultimately reflected a lack of buy-in for this project.”

Ensuring successful construction and operation of a hybrid shelter requires “strong alignment” from providers, neighbors and city leaders, the nonprofit leaders wrote. “If that alignment is not present, as it stands today, moving forward would invite significant conflict, extended delays, and unnecessary capital expenditures that ultimately make the project unworkable.” The nonprofit group wrote they remain ready to proceed with the “full hybrid shelter” project, if the city chooses to collaborate with them. Until then and “regardless of city funding” they plan to pursue the tiny home project. The nonprofit group has also offered to relinquish or repurpose a $1.1 million grant the city awarded them for the hybrid shelter.

Wheeler said Monday night what happens next is up to the city council.

“The decision now is fully in the council’s hand’s,” he said. “The council chose this path.”

Rebelowski said many of the requests the nonprofit providers were asking for, including zoning and code alterations to support the project, “weren’t under the council’s purview.” She expressed some concerns about the decision to forgo a congregate shelter, but said she believed the tiny homes could help house a good portion of the individuals staying at Salvation Army.

“I’m happy this is moving forward,” she said. “This is a solution that’s going to get people housed.”

Few details about the tiny project were offered in the letter, only that they will include “24/7 security, on-site stabilization, and engagement services.” The nonprofit group said they apply for permits and begin community outreach efforts. The project will require at least one zoning change, but should encounter fewer complications than a congregate shelter.

Katie Sharp, a spokesperson for the Bremerton Housing Authority, said she did not have any additional specifics on the project, but noted the agency was happy to be making progress.

“This was a big step forward,” she said.

Conor Wilson is a Murrow News fellow, reporting for the Kitsap Sun and Gig Harbor Now, a nonprofit newsroom based in Gig Harbor, through a program managed by Washington State University.