Lighthouse Mission announces plans for a bigger building in Bellingham’s Old Town
The Lighthouse Mission Ministries has announced a big project to help address the homeless issue in Bellingham.
The organization said in a news release that it plans to demolish its current main building at 910 W. Holly St. and build a larger five-story, 75,000-square-foot structure.
The new building will include space for the emergency homeless services center that temporarily is at 1530 Cornwall Ave. and known as Base Camp.
“There has been an increase in local homelessness and this is our response to that problem,” said Hans Erchinger-Davis, Executive Director of Lighthouse Mission Ministries. “We want to be equipped to better meet the need that we are seeing in our community.”
The project is currently beginning the permitting process, which includes an online public meeting to introduce the project and answer questions before permits are sought. The meeting will be held on Zoom at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 26. To register for the meeting, visit https://bit.ly/2QeON2H.
The design was completed by Bellingham’s Zervas architects and Dawson Construction of Bellingham was hired to build it.
If permitting and funding goes as planned, construction would begin in the summer of 2022 and take 14 months to complete. During that construction period, the Lighthouse Mission plans to relocate its services in other buildings it operates. One example is the men’s recovery center would move to 923 W. Holly St., which used to house the administration offices before recently moving to 110 Grand Ave.
During the construction phase, Base Camp on Cornwall Avenue will largely remain the same, Erchinger-Davis said in a phone interview.
Along with increased capacity, the new building also will help build up Lighthouse Mission Ministries’ programs, including for subgroups of the homeless population. That would include specific services and living space for families in crisis, seniors, people who are medically fragile and those living with a metal health condition, Erchinger-Davis said.
The new building also should help Lighthouse Mission expand the recovery stage of its process, building on its outreach and recovery programs. The expanded recovery program would include creating three storefront businesses in the building to provide job and job-training opportunities.
Lighthouse Mission Ministries also plans to remodel its New Life Center and upgrade the facade of the Mossey Center (also known as Agape Home), two of its other buildings along Holly Street, by 2024.
“These expansions and improvements will enable us to double the impact on the 2,500 precious lives we walked with in 2020 to 5,000 precious lives in 2025,” Erchinger-Davis said.
In terms of fundraising, the organization is currently working with its private-sector partners in establishing a good base to work with before starting a public campaign later this year, he said. Currently they are on track for meeting the goals they’ve set. Questions about the new facility or fundraising can sent by email to contact@thelighthousemission.org.
Erchinger-Davis said the organization is excited about what he described as a bold vision for addressing the increase in local homelessness.
“I believe once we do this (project), we can say that we are treating the poor incredibly well,” Erchinger-Davis said.
Lighthouse Mission Ministries supports up to 310 people each day in services aimed at ending homelessness through street outreach, enhanced 24-hour shelter services, addiction recovery, spiritual support and aftercare. For more details call 360-733-5120 or visit thelighthousemission.org.
This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 12:57 PM.
