This Lacey homeless shelter has more than 100 new residents, and an I-5 camp is now empty
A former Days Inn in Lacey that is now known as the Maple Court enhanced shelter now has 115 residents, and there are still 15 rooms available, Planning Manager Ryan Andrews told the Lacey Planning Commission Tuesday.
Five of the vacant rooms will come online next week after they are repaired, he said.
The result is that there are no more homeless residents in an encampment next to Interstate 5 just off Sleater Kinney Road Southeast near the Hobby Lobby store in Olympia.
“Those that were identified for housing have been placed in Maple Court and those who were not placed in housing have been removed from the site,” Andrews said.
Boulders have been placed on the strip of land between southbound I-5 and the Hobby Lobby store so that campers do not return.
This effort is all part of a state plan called the Rights-of-Way Initiative to get those living along Washington’s busiest freeway into housing.
State funds were used to acquire and renovate the former Days Inn on Quinault Drive Northeast, near Marvin Road, and it is now managed by the Low Income Housing Institute.
Andrews told the commission that police report the shelter has been a good neighbor. That was not the case during the property’s final days as a motel, when it was known to generate a number of 911 calls, he said.
The city will continue to monitor the success of the facility, Andrews said. That means tracking how many are coming into the shelter, how many are leaving, and what next steps those residents take.
The shelter has three case managers, Andrews said. One of their first goals is to secure identification or birth certificates for residents.
Case managers want to make sure residents have that information because it helps them take advantage of other programs, he said.
This story was originally published September 13, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
