The Mayor of Bellingham announces temporary use of Civic Athletic Complex for temporary winter shelter.

“Up to 28 people who are homeless will stay at a temporary winter shelter at Frank Geri Softball Fields on Puget Street, according to an email from the Bellingham mayor’s office on Thursday, Dec. 10.

Bellingham nonprofit HomesNOW! will operate the encampment, which will be located in the parking lot for the softball fields that are part of the Civic Athletic Complex.
HomesNOW! already runs Unity Village, a tiny homes encampment located in the parking lot at 210 McKenzie Ave. near the Post Point Water Treatment Plant in the Fairhaven neighborhood.
People will stay in tents first “to get the site up and running quickly, until the modular tiny homes arrive,” Janice Keller, spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office, said in an email to The Bellingham Herald.

HomesNOW plans to set up a series of neighborhood meetings to discuss any questions or concerns with the neighborhood.

HomesNOW Neighborhood Meeting – Tuesday December 15th at 6PM – Zoom Link:
https://zoom.us/j/95390277471?pwd=cVZ5STZlalk2MzJxMEdXYTh0Q0dhQT09
HomesNOW Neighborhood Meeting – Sunday  December 20th at 11AM – Zoom Link:

City of Bellingham – Official Statement:

“We announced today the City is working with Homes Now! to locate a temporary emergency winter shelter at the Civic Athletic Complex in the Geri Field parking lot.

We are actively engaged in the urgent work of creating the conditions to end the encampment at City Hall and this is a key step in that work.

On Thursday, Dec. 10, City crews began the work to prepare the Geri Field parking lot to house up to 28 people. We anticipate the site will be ready for occupancy next week.

We are working with Whatcom County in their efforts to procure modular tiny homes and expect to locate tiny homes at this site when they arrive, anticipated later this month.

Homes Now! intends to house people at this location who have been screened by their organization and the Bellingham Police Department. It will be supervised at all times and will be permitted until Spring 2021.

We continue to explore additional temporary winter shelter sites with interested partners.

More information about our work to increase shelter capacity and address the encampment at City Hall available at this link:”

https://cob.org/services/safety/emergencies/covid-19/city-county-addressing-tent-encampment-and-emergency-winter-shelter-needs