Year-Round Bellevue Homeless Shelter Study Approved

BELLEVUE, WA - The Bellevue City Council has approved spending $135,000 to evaluate how to turn the men's winter shelter at Lincoln Center into a year-round operation.

The shelter is currently only open in the winter. The building would need significant upgrades to house up to 100 men year-round. Some of those upgrades include adding fire walls and sprinklers. The building was originally built for office space.

Converting Lincoln Center into a year-round shelter would only be an interim measure. The facility could be around for up to three years while a permanent year-round shelter gets built. If approved, construction at Lincoln Center likely wouldn't happen until summer 2020, according to Council documents.

The cost for the project would range between $1.6 and $1.9 million, according to Council documents. Beyond that, the shelter would cost up to $570,000 per year to operate. Those costs might be shared among the Eastside cities the shelter would serve.

The Bellevue Council will review the feasibility of a year-round shelter in early 2019.

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