Salvation Army had planned to close Olympia shelter, but COVID-19 has changed that
After surveying Thurston County citizens about the community’s needs, The Salvation Army planned to stop using its downtown Olympia building as an overnight, cold-weather homeless shelter, according to the local director. But, with the introduction of a global pandemic, the community’s needs have quickly, drastically changed.
“At this point, everything we were thinking about four weeks ago is on hold, and we have to take care of the immediate need right now,” Captain Mark Stearns, The Salvation Army corps officer in Olympia, said. “That means taking care of our people.”
In recent days, Olympia Mayor Cheryl Selby and Thurston County’s Board of Commissioners sent letters to Salvation Army Northwest Division Commander Bill Dickinson Jr., asking the organization to continue offering shelter in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among other work in Olympia, The Salvation Army hosts the Community Kitchen operated in conjunction with Catholic Community Services and has a contract with the county to run its 29-bed overnight shelter November through April.
It previously planned to become a 24-hour facility, which Stearns said “financially wouldn’t pencil” in the end.
In 2018, it also had contracted with the city to expand its shelter, dining area and day center, according to The Olympian’s previous reporting. According to Keith Stahley, interim assistant city manager, the Salvation Army withdrew from its contract due to a shortage of operating funds and returned the city’s $400,000 in capital funding.
Stearns confirmed the money was returned and said the city and organization “parted friends,” but would not comment further on the subject, calling it “old news.”
He said the shelter downtown started offering up to 40 beds per night — more than the contract requires — when temperatures dropped in January and never scaled back. The facility is roomy enough that they’ve been able to offer those beds while following social-distancing guidelines, according to Stearns.
The county’s database where shelters input nightly occupancy shows the shelter hosted between zero and 32 people between March 1 and 29, the last date data was available. Stearns says those “zero” nights — March 17, 23, and 25 — occurred because not enough staff were available to safely run the shelter.
Mayor Selby and Thurston commissioners sent their letters to the division commander in the past week. Stearns says the county had been asking for a commitment as to whether The Salvation Army would continue its cold-weather shelter into 2021 and they couldn’t commit at that point.
“We request the use of your property on Fifth Avenue in Downtown Olympia that has traditionally been used for shelter, to continue, and possibly expand, those efforts to support our COVID-19 response,” Olympia’s letter, dated March 31, reads.
It references a previous letter from Feb. 25, in which the Salvation Army indicated it was “going in another direction” based on its needs assessment. Stearns told The Olympian the organization hadn’t decided at that point how it would use the building, and that they were getting ready to map out a five-year plan when “suddenly, the world got sick.”
“I ask that you reconsider or postpone those plans as our community struggles to support our most vulnerable neighbors,” Mayor Selby wrote, “Our library, Senior Center and other critical resources have closed because of COVID-19. We are hoping your Olympia Salvation Army facilities can help our community’s most vulnerable meet their basic needs.”
The mayor also wrote that the organization is a “critical partner in shelter, community kitchen, and countless other emergency response efforts” and Stearns is “a pleasure to work with.”
In its letter, dated March 27, the county writes that it’s “prepared to assist both the City of Olympia and the Salvation Army” in the effort. The county was recently awarded a state Department of Commerce grant of nearly $1 million to help it meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness during the outbreak.
The Salvation Army responded to the city in an email the same day it sent its letter, asking to set up a virtual meeting “to discuss how you might see us working more collaboratively together moving forward.”
Stearns said he’s been looking at expanding capacity and services, and that the biggest obstacle would be getting it paid for— expanded staff and services means a higher price tag. Future plans for the building are “postponed until after we get out of this emergency.”
Key city officials and regional Salvation Army leadership attended the virtual meeting Friday. Stearns says two county officials were also invited; however, a county spokesperson told The Olympian the officials were aware of the meeting but not invited, so they did not attend.
Both interim assistant manager Stahley and Capt. Stearns had positive news to share after the meeting.
“It was definitely an opportunity to reconnect with our friends from the Salvation Army,” Stahley told The Olympian. “They were engaged and ready to roll up their sleeves, come to the table, and help us respond to this emergency. There was no hesitation.”
The parties are now working toward a formal agreement.
“We are moving forward in a spirit of cooperation and we just want to make sure everything pencils out correctly for both sides,” Stearns said.
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