Homeless agency rejects Whatcom’s offer of hazard pay for workers in pandemic
Lighthouse Mission — which runs the Base Camp homeless shelter — has rejected a government grant to give its employees a pandemic premium because officials couldn’t agree to Whatcom County’s non-discrimination rules.
But two other Bellingham organizations that help homeless people find housing have accepted more than $400,000 in bonuses for their workers.
Northwest Youth Services received $140,612 and the Opportunity Council received $272,196 from Whatcom County’s federal pandemic-relief funds for “supplemental pay premiums to eligible staff providing direct services to clients,” on a pair of 5-2 votes before the County Council on Tuesday, April 26.
Councilmembers Tyler Byrd and Ben Elenbaas voted against the funding measures.
A similar award for $117,611 to the Lighthouse Mission was removed from consideration Tuesday after the mission refused to sign the contract, which requires those receiving funds from Whatcom County to treat people fairly in hiring, said Tyler Schroeder, deputy county executive.
“It is our understanding that when the Health Department presented this contract to the Lighthouse Mission, they did not feel comfortable signing it. I don’t know the entire terms or reason for that but it is my understanding that they do ask for a recognition of religious beliefs for employment and so they weren’t comfortable signing it with the contract clause that’s in our contract,” Schroeder told the council.
Whatcom County contracts indicate that it is the county’s policy to provide equal opportunity to everyone regardless of “race, color, creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or veterans status,” he said.
Elenbaas said he believed that the non-discrimination clause itself was discriminatory.
“Is there something wrong with our contract then if we’re going to discriminate against them based on their statements of faith?” he said.
Lighthouse Mission’s president and executive director told The Herald that the mission is grateful that Whatcom County officials wanted to include its staff when offering hazard pay for their work during the pandemic, but they felt that they had to “respectfully decline” that money.
“The Lighthouse Mission serves all people and there are no faith requirements to receive services. Plus, the Lighthouse Mission loves to work with volunteers, interns and contractors of all perspectives and beliefs. We do ask Lighthouse Mission staff to sign a statement of faith,” Hans Erchinger-Davis said in an email on Friday, April 29.
“(We) look forward to continue working with Whatcom County in serving the most vulnerable in our community,” Erchinger-Davis said.
Lighthouse Mission says it is “Healing homelessness with Christ’s power and love,” according to its mission statement.
“Lighthouse Mission Ministries has appreciated the help of Whatcom County government in serving our community’s homeless during two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have collaborated with the city of Bellingham, Whatcom County and several other community organizations since the early stages of the pandemic with the emergency move of shelter space to Bellingham High School, and later to Base Camp,” Erchinger-Davis told The Herald.
Legal gray area
Issues of bias in hiring surfaced at the County Council in September 2020 when a child-care program run by The Firs, a Christian organization located in the Geneva area, was awarded $15,000 from the CARES Act pandemic-relief fund.
Officials at The Firs had faced criticism for firing a gay counselor in 2019, exposing a statutory gray area for workplace bias.
It is illegal under federal law to discriminate or deny someone employment based on their sexual orientation, but under Washington state law, a religious non-profit can deny employment to someone based on sexual orientation, according to previous Bellingham Herald reporting.
That prompted a County Council discussion over potential bias, but council members were told that The Firs had signed the county’s contract and agreed not to discriminate.
Base Camp
Bellingham, Whatcom County and the Lighthouse Mission are partners in operating Base Camp as the main emergency shelter.
Base Camp opened in July 2020 in a former shopping center at York Street and Cornwall Avenue in Bellingham, supported by $1.5 million from the city and county toward leasing and site improvements, according to previous Herald reporting.
Both Bellingham and Whatcom County have separated their support for Lighthouse Mission into funding streams that avoid non-discrimination requirements, officials told The Herald.
But they have held Lighthouse Mission to the anti-bias rules when required, they said.
County contracts
Contracts with or related to Lighthouse Mission Ministries covered two areas during the coronavirus pandemic — homeless housing and COVID response in the form of an isolation and quarantine facility, said Jed Holmes, community outreach facilitator for Whatcom County.
Whatcom County bought 200 bed sets with storage space and dividers to allow privacy and gave them to Lighthouse Mission for use at Base Camp, a purchase of $329,441, Holmes told The Herald in an email.
In addition, Whatcom County is using a Department of Commerce grant to pay the city of Bellingham, which is leasing the Base Camp site from the owner at $15,000 per month.
Whatcom County has not contributed to the facility’s operating costs, including food, staffing, utilities and other expenses, he said.
As a part of the countywide COVID response, Whatcom County contracted with Lighthouse Mission to staff the isolation and quarantine facility in a former motel in the Samish neighborhood of Bellingham.
Holmes told The Herald that the contract was part of an emergency declaration early in the pandemic and the non-discrimination in employment clause was added in February 2021.
Total for the isolation and quarantine facility was $476,302, and federal funding was used to cover these expenses, he said.
When that contract was extended in June 2021 for a total of $111,674, it included the non-discrimination in employment clause.
Bellingham contracts
The city of Bellingham leases the Base Camp site from the property owner and has a sublease agreement with Lighthouse Mission Ministries and does not pay them for services other than for cleaning outside the building, said Janice Keller, the city’s communications director.
That agreement for cleaning services includes the equal employment opportunity terms, she said.
“My understanding is that Lighthouse Mission Ministries hires a contractor to perform those duties and they do not have the religious requirements for contractors that they have for their staff,” Keller said.
Bellingham’s $200,000 contract for Base Camp runs through June 2023, according to a copy of the document provided to The Herald.
