The Lewis County Board of Commissioners approved an agreement Tuesday, June 3, that, if also approved by the City of Chehalis, would allow the county to begin operating its new night-by-night homeless shelter.
The Chehalis City Council tabled its side of the agreement last week.
The development agreement between the two local governments would permit the county to begin operating despite having not yet completed exterior infrastructure, called frontage improvements, like sidewalk and sewer installation.
The agreement also stipulates the county finish the work by the end of the year. Lewis County is set to select a contractor for the work this month after the bid period closed Wednesday, June 4.
The term “night by night” means that individuals can sleep in the shelter but will have to leave the next morning and will not be able to store belongings in the building.
At the Chehalis City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 27, six of the council’s seven members supported a motion by Councilor Kate McDougall to table the agreement until the council’s June 9 meeting, according to previous Chronicle reporting. McDougall cited the pending frontage improvements as the reason for her motion. The motion carried easily, despite city administrators suggesting approval of the agreement in the Chehalis City Council meeting agenda.
While the motion to table the agreement passed with nearly unanimous support, it came as a surprise to many others, including the one dissenting councilor, Kevin Carns, and officials at the Lewis County Courthouse. Carns later said the shelter needs to be opened as soon as possible as the Hope Housing Collaborative plans to open overnight parking for homeless families with children in the parking lots of Twin Cities churches.
Lewis County Commissioner Sean Swope and former Lewis County housing specialist and the county’s lead on the night-by-night shelter Eric Eisenberg said they were surprised by the move from the Chehalis City Council, largely because, recently, they had experienced strong cooperation and “good communication” with City of Chehalis staff.
“We have had many permitting interactions with the City of Chehalis in the last several months regarding the frontage improvements, and I feel that we have been treated very fairly by the permitting staff,” Eisenberg said. “That’s why it is such a surprise. We have been working very productively with the city staff.”
Swope, during the commissioners business meeting Tuesday, said the move was "disappointing." He said he was especially eager for the new shelter to open since it, unlike the current shelter operated by the Centralia Salvation Army, has space dedicated to accommodating families with children.
“I felt like it was a technicality as to why they tabled it. There was no discussion on it, and it seemed very like it was something that was already planned to do, and so that was really disappointing,” Swope said. “This is a huge step forward in giving people a dignified place to sleep, and so I feel like we’re dragging our feet at this point.”
Despite what seemed like a blindside to some, others, such as Commissioner Lindsey Pollock, took the setback in stride, saying it was “just the process of getting all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed.”
The creation of a new night-by-night shelter has been a long time coming. The initial process started as early as 2022, according to previous reporting by The Chronicle. Lewis County purchased the former Washington State Employees Credit Union building at 2015 NE Kresky Ave. that year for use as a temporary shelter while working toward building a permanent shelter down the street at 2025 NE Kresky Ave.
The county later decided the plans for the 2025 NE Kresky shelter would be too expensive, instead opting to convert the bank building into the county’s permanent shelter.
Permitting and zoning requirements for the creation of the shelter have been a sticking point between the county and the city almost since its inception. Lewis County sued the city in 2024 in Thurston County Superior Court, alleging the city “intentionally interfered with said opening for an improper purpose, delay and by improper means.”
The lawsuit claimed that while the City of Chehalis acknowledged receiving an application from the county to change the use of the building commercially to use as a year-round emergency shelter in May 2022, the city did nothing more until June of 2023. The lawsuit was eventually dropped after discussions between the city and county about deeper cooperation.
Nonetheless, Eisenberg says that the county is committed to continuing the work on the shelter and getting it operational one way or another.
“The county is proceeding forward in this project. We are going to install the frontage improvements,” Eisenberg said. “That's all happening, that's all going to happen. We will just do it. That will ultimately lead to the shelter opening in that location regardless of this development agreement.”
Lewis County completed all necessary improvements to the new shelter building in late February with the exception of the frontage improvements. Once the doors open, the shelter will be operated by The Salvation Army under contract with Lewis County.
The new building will replace the county’s current night-by-night shelter, which is also operated by the Salvation Army. The new shelter has the same 70-bed capacity as the old one, with separate areas for men and women, but it includes more space for occupants and operators as well as two private rooms specifically for accommodating families with children.
