Bellevue Homeless Shelter Discussion At City Council Monday

BELLEVUE, WA - The Bellevue City Council will discuss possible options for a homeless shelter in the city at its meeting Monday night. In mid-April, the Council voted 4-3 to support a shelter in the Eastgate area. But at the same time, the Council decided to take 45 days to study two other possible locations for the shelter.

The Council will discuss the results of its studying of the two additional sites on Monday, and the public will have a chance to comment on the results.

In addition to the Eastgate site, which is adjacent to the Eastgate park-and-ride, the two other locations are:

• Lincoln Center, 515 116th Ave. NE. A city-owned facility where a portion of the southern office building served as the interim site for the Eastside Winter Shelter this past winter.
• Sound Transit Operations & Maintenance Facility: East, located along 120th Avenue Northeast and just north of the future Spring Boulevard, in the BelRed area. A large portion of the site is required for the maintenance facility, with future transit-oriented development planned for the location after construction of the facility is complete and any remaining property is determined to be surplus.

A group of Bellevue residents is opposed to the shelter. They are concerned because the shelter will be low-barrier, which means that the shelter will accept anyone without restrictions. Some homeless shelters will provide shelter only if a person is sober, or doesn't have pets or a partner.

Low-barrier shelters are preferred by homeless advocates because they can serve more people. The 2017 point-in-time count of homeless in King County found close to 6,000 people living without shelter. That includes about 300 people on the Eastside.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall with a study session. Public comment begins at 8 p.m.

Image via City of Bellevue