Bellingham’s new medical respite shelter will have a 2.5-block protection zone for safety
Bellingham is creating a "protection zone" around the new Way Station at 1500 N. State Street, with restrictions on loitering and camping in a 2.5-block area around the facility that will provide medical services for unhoused people.
Such a protection zone discourages loitering, camping and congregating in certain parts of downtown. There's a similar zone around the Base Camp shelter, and there will be one around the new Lighthouse Mission when it opens next month in Old Town.
Councilman Michael Lilliquist saw the protection area as a "zone of safety" for Way Station clients.
"They don't have to run a gantlet of people who often prey on homeless people or prey on someone who's in recovery. And that's where a drug dealer would hang out," Lilliquist said during committee discussion Monday afternoon.
"This isn't anti-homeless. It's actually pro the clients who happen to be homeless," he said.
City Council members approved the zone unanimously on Monday night. It includes a three-block area that includes Champion, North State, York and Ellis streets.
The $12.6 million Way Station will provide homeless people with a range of health and social services and help their transition to more permanent housing.
It's a partnership among Whatcom County, the Opportunity Council, Unity Care NW, and PeaceHealth that will begin providing services to up to 20 people at a time later this fall.
Such shelter protection areas "have increased safety for those using the services and reduced negative behaviors and impacts such as debris, disorderly conduct and property damage," Blake Lyon, director of the Planning and Community Development, wrote in a memo to the council.
Councilwoman Hollie Huthman said the protection zone will be enforced by Way Station personnel, who would have the option of calling police if a situation warrants.
"The other element that is important to consider with an ordinance like this is that we need more programs like the Way Station, we need more shelters, we need more options. And one way that we can help the community accept more is to make sure that some of those negative impacts are prevented to the best of our ability in a reasonable way," Huthman said.
