Lighthouse Mission prioritizing mental health beds, coffee shop as winter nears
As the temperatures begin to drop and Whatcom County prepares its severe weather shelter, Lighthouse Mission Ministries also plans to add capacity for unhoused community members during the coldest nights.
“We will expand to meet the need. Nobody will go without shelter in our community. If someone has a real need, we’ll make space for them,” Lighthouse Mission Executive Director Hans Erchinger-Davis told The Herald.
Right now, Lighthouse Mission can add up to 30 beds to its low-barrier shelter during severe weather.
The organization houses about 200 individuals daily in its main shelter throughout the year, serving 600 meals each day. An additional 50 individuals are served daily through the organization’s recovery programs.
.JPG "Lighthouse Mission chapel room (DO NOT USE FOR LIGHTHOUSE MISSION PURPOSES).JPG")
When the organization opened its new facility last fall, the goal was to be able to open its chapel floor to accommodate an additional 100 individuals during severe weather. However, a year later, the organization still lacks the necessary staffing and volunteers to support that effort.
Facilitating those extra beds is a matter of funding and could take another year or longer as the organization works to prioritize getting other services up and running, according to Erchinger-Davis.
Lighthouse Mission first plans to use funding to staff and operate its 58-bed mental health center, along with its internally-run coffee shop, which will be managed by shelter guests in active recovery. Then, the organization can focus on its severe weather shelter, Erchinger-Davis told The Herald.
“Our focus is on supporting the severely mentally ill along with workplace development,“ Erchinger-Davis said. “We see the surge of mental illness on our streets and the long-term implications of the mentally ill homeless. Our priority is there at this moment.”
As an organization that is entirely supported by private donors, Erchinger-Davis told The Herald they want to be good stewards of that funding. He said Lighthouse Mission is the “main intervention” for homelessness in Whatcom County, and its ability to offer any of its services is entirely reliant upon the generosity of the community.
“I don’t want people to lose compassion for the people on the street. I don’t want people to forget that these are precious people who are in a very broken place and come from incredible traumas that many of us can never know,” Erchinger-Davis said.
Lighthouse Mission continues to make progress on its major goals for expanding services with its new facility. It plans to fill out an entire continuum of care, much of which is already operating.
Its full spectrum of services will include:
- An entry level, low-barrier shelter with 70 beds. That shelter can expand to 100 beds during severe weather.
- A severe weather shelter that offers another 100 beds in the facility’s chapel room.
- An enhanced shelter with an extra 130 beds. This includes separate spaces for men and women while providing case management and “higher accountability.”
- A family shelter.
- Two separate micro shelters with 25 beds for seniors and medically fragile individuals.
- Two dorm-style areas with a total of 58 beds for individuals experiencing severe mental illness.
- Year-long recovery programs for addiction — one for moms with kids and a separate program for men. Participants can choose to further their education or partner with community groups for employment opportunities.
This story was originally published October 10, 2025 at 5:15 AM.
