Lighthouse Mission is ready to open its new homeless shelter in Old Town; check it out

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At a time when homelessness lingers at an all-time high across Whatcom County, Lighthouse Mission Ministries is starting its second century in Bellingham with a new shelter that opens next month.

It took a little less than two years to demolish the former shelter at the corner of West Holly and F streets in Bellingham’s Old Town district and build the 75,000-square-foot facility with space for about 300 people.

That includes room for 100 people in separate “micro-shelters” designed for families and those who are employed, along with 200 “low-barrier” beds for those coming off the street. The new five-story building will be replacing the downtown Base Camp, which has sheltered about 200 overnight guests in an converted shopping center since it opened in summer 2020.

“We’re happy to be back,” Lighthouse Mission’s president and CEO Hans Erchinger-Davis told The Bellingham Herald.

“To see the project in the last three months, it’s blowing my mind. It’s been a real joy seeing it come together,” Erchinger-Davis said in a phone interview.

Private donations covered most of the $29 million cost, and about $1.5 million more is needed, he said.

In addition to its 300 shelter beds, the Lighthouse Mission will be able to offer up to 100 overnight beds for a temporary severe weather shelter. This winter, only 20 to 40 beds will be available during weather emergencies because not enough staff has been hired, according to the Whatcom County Department of Healthy and Community Services.

“That’s life and death stuff (housing people) during severe weather,” Erchinger-Davis said.

In addition to its shelter space, the new Lighthouse Mission will have offices for “third-party providers” who arrange for medical care, job training and permanent housing, he said.

Lighthouse Mission Ministries has been operating homeless services at Holly and F streets since 1923, and it owns other buildings nearby for related programs, such as recovery from substance abuse.

Three-block exclusion zone

Erchinger-Davis said the Lighthouse Mission will have staff patrolling its new location, picking up trash and reporting criminal activity, as well as a neighborhood liaison to provide communication with nearby residents, according to previous Herald reporting.

A three-block exclusion zone around the new shelter will allow city officials to restrict parking, camping and loitering in the immediate area in an effort to limit what Erchinger-Davis called “predatory” activity nearby.

“We do have a moral obligation, we feel, to the neighbors,” Erchinger-Davis told The Herald in a 2022 interview. “We’re all about breaking barriers. We want to see lives transformed, not just three hots and a cot. A really solid safety net helps support everyone, and that includes the neighbors. We need the neighbors to cherish this kind of opportunity.”

Solar power

Guests will move into the facility on Oct. 7, Loran Zenonian, the mission’s chief advancement officer, told The Herald during a tour of the building Friday morning.

The new building includes 213 solar panels and a battery backup power system, paid for with a $973,425 grant from the state Department of Commerce through its Solar Plus Storage for Resilient Communities program, according to an emailed statement from the mission. The system will produce clean electricity, saving money for Lighthouse Mission and reducing strain on the grid, according to Commerce.

There will be expanded laundry and facilities, a larger kitchen that can serve 900 to 1,200 meals daily, secure parking for 25 to 30 bikes and “entrepreneurial suites” for activities, according to Lighthouse Mission’s website.

It will have a “day room” space connected to an outdoor deck to “provide a safe, open way for people to enjoy the fresh air” without leaving the building, the website states.

Among the 200 “low-barrier” shelter spaces will be 140 beds for men and 40 to 50 beds for women, Zenonian said.

In the “micro-shelter area,” there will be space for six families with up to 30 people. There will be separate space for trans and nonbinary people and those who are transitioning, he said.

Not all parts of the new building are ready immediately. Priority was given to moving the low-barrier shelter so that Base Camp can close.

Eventually, the mission plans to have a coffee shop or doughnut shop run by guests so that they can get work experience.

Lighthouse staff was planning for public tours of the new building on Saturday, and a special presentation is planned for the Bellingham City Council’s Community and Economic Development Committee at 10:20 a.m. Monday in Council Chambers at City Hall, 210 Lottie St. It will be live-streamed on the city’s YouTube channel.