‘Tears of joy’ as homeless encampment learns Bellingham will look for a new site
The city of Bellingham will search for a new site for a tiny homes encampment for the homeless to relocate to after its stay on city-owned land in Fairhaven ends April 30, newly elected Mayor Seth Fleetwood said to The Bellingham Herald
Potential sites for Unity Village would be on city property, Rick Sepler, Planning and Community Development director for Bellingham said to The Bellingham Herald.
Unity Village is the tiny homes encampment in Fairhaven operated by the nonprofit HomesNOW!
Sepler said the search will begin this week.
The encampment could stay longer at the next site — up to two years, according to Sepler.
“Prior sites that were identified may or may not be available due to changes since we did this review a year ago,” Sepler said. “Also, the potential term is up to two years so that, too, has to be considered.”
It would be the fourth site on city-owned land that Bellingham has made available to encampments for the homeless operated by HomesNOW!
The announcement was a relief for HomesNOW!, its supporters and those living in Unity Village.
“The residents of Unity Village, as well as myself, are thrilled and relieved. There were some tears of joy today. Peace of mind is important. Nobody, including myself, knew what was going to happen,” said Doug Gustafson, co-founder of HomesNOW!, in a video on the organization’s Facebook page on Friday, Jan. 17.
Where Unity Village would move to isn’t yet known, although Gustafson said HomesNOW! has inquired about city-owned land at Lakeway Drive and Woburn Street, the former Clean Green site.
HomesNOW! has been concerned that Unity Village would have to shut down at the end of April. A permit allows the tiny homes encampment to be in the parking lot at 210 McKenzie Ave. near the Post Point Water Treatment Plant through April 30.
Under former Mayor Kelli Linville, the city had told HomesNOW! that the Fairhaven spot would be the last piece of city-owned land that would be made available for an encampment for the homeless.
The city offered the sites to show the encampments were viable and hoped that other municipalities or organizations would step forward to offer land, Sepler said in a previous Bellingham Herald story.
Gustafson said HomesNOW! had been pushing for an extension of the April deadline because they feared the encampment would have to close if there was nowhere else for it to go.
But the permit for that site barred an extension and homeless residents who stay there sign papers acknowledging the April end date, Sepler said.
Allowing an extension would violate the city’s promise to neighbors that the encampment would be there only through April and would open the city to accusations that it can’t be trusted, Sepler said.
A private landowner has offered HomesNOW! a four-year lease on land that’s on Meridian, just outside Bellingham city limits, Gustafson said, but the organization needs to raise money for that effort, which includes making improvements such as septic.
If that falls through, Gustafson said the organization will need to raise money to buy land.
The announcement that city staff has been directed to find another site for the encampment has Gustafson and Unity Village’s 18 residents breathing a sigh of relief, Gustafson said.
As for the move, Gustafson said the city will give Unity Village a couple of weeks to move after the April 30 deadline.
The city of Bellingham has made land available on a temporary basis for HomesNOW! three times.
Each time the HomesNOW! encampment moved, it was given a new name.
The first one was a tent encampment called Winter Haven, which opened from January to March 2019 behind City Hall at 210 Lottie St. The second was Safe Haven, which was on part of the What-Comm Dispatch Center parking lot at 620 Alabama St. in the Sunnyland neighborhood from April until August.
The third is Unity Village on McKenzie Avenue, which the city allowed to be there through April. By the time this one opened, the tents had been replaced with tiny homes.
Meanwhile, the nonprofit’s former president, Jim Peterson, has been charged with allegedly embezzling more than $75,000 from the nonprofit.
His trial is scheduled for Feb. 26 in Whatcom County Superior Court.
This story was originally published January 20, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
