‘We have a problem that’s decades in the making’: Bellingham services center planned
A $12.6 million project in Bellingham called the Way Station will provide homeless people with a range of health and social services to assist their transition to more permanent housing.
A group of political and civic leaders gathered recently to announce the project. The existing Whatcom County Health Department Building at 1500 N. State Street will be renovated to accommodate the future services.
“We are going to be able to help families living in their cars with access to laundry and showers,” Unity Care NW CEO Jodi Joyce said during a groundbreaking ceremony. “We are going to be able to help people who are having a job interview by coming to get a shave and brush their teeth.”
The two-part facility will provide hygiene services and clinical care on a walk-in basis. It will also offer medical respite for unhoused individuals who are discharged from the hospital and are in need of a place to recuperate and heal.
“This is the right thing to do and right place to do it because this is downtown,” Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu said at the ceremony. “All the services — everything is available.”
The Way Station is not a shelter. Seventeen beds will be available in the 24/7 medical respite program, but only patients referred by PeaceHealth who have been discharged from the hospital may enter that program. The hygiene and clinical care area will offer showers, laundry and restroom facilities. That will be accessible to anyone and will be open during set business hours on specific days.
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen helped secure $2 million in federal funding for the construction of the project.
“The Way Station is just so important,” said Larsen, D-2nd District. “It’s a safe place for individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Bellingham and Whatcom County to access the care and services they need for themselves and their loved ones.”
State Sen. Sharon Shewmake, who also spoke at the ceremony, helped secure $4 million from the state capital budget for the Way Station project.
“We have a problem that’s decades in the making of housing affordability, of a lack of access to physical health and behavioral health and all of these different pieces coming together that result in people living behind the Walmart, result in families not sure how they are going to be housed next week even,” said Shewmake, D-42nd District.
“And there’s not one simple solution: There’s a whole bunch of solutions that are going to take time to build and come together.”
The facility is expected to be completed in summer 2024.
This story was originally published August 24, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
