Bellevue Council OKs 'Bridge' Homeless Shelter Downtown

BELLEVUE, WA — The Bellevue City Council on Thursday approved a plan for a temporary homeless shelter downtown, allowing the city to begin offering a year-round shelter beginning in September.

The new downtown shelter would act as a "bridge" until renovations at the Lincoln Center shelter are complete. Congregations for the Homeless (CFH) is renovating that building to turn it from a winter-only shelter into a year-round shelter, but the work won't be done until late fall.

"This is a major step in the provision of emergency services for men experiencing homelessness on the Eastside," Mayor John Chelminiak said in a statement. "It is another example of how the city, our human services providers, our residents and the business community are stepping up to meet the challenge of homelessness. On behalf of the city, I want to thank Lawrence Lui and Cloudvue for allowing us to use the site during this critical transition period."

The bridge shelter would be located at the Cloudvue site at the corner of Northeast 8th and 108th Avenue Northeast. The city will chip in about $156,000 to get the bridge shelter up and running.