8/11/2022
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The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Snohomish County is joining neighboring King County in purchasing hotels to convert to emergency housing.
While King County’s Health Through Housing initiative is working to hit its goal of creating up to 1,600 emergency housing and permanent supportive housing units by the end of the year, Snohomish County’s hotel purchases work towards a different goal.
The Shelter and Behavioral Health Partnership Program the county aims to add new housing units to support an estimated 36 persons, among other housing and behavioral health projects in collaboration with nine cities within county limits.
Snohomish County is purchasing the Days Inn hotel in Everett for $10.8 million using federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars, according to an email sent to The Center Square from the Snohomish County Office of Recovery and Resilience. The former hotel will be converted into time-limited bridge housing for the homeless with 74 units. The cost of each unit is nearly $150,000.
Including the $2.3 million the county spent towards shelter and behavioral health efforts last week, a total of $13.1 million of ARPA dollars has been spent towards the Shelter and Behavioral Health Partnership Program.
Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers believes the ARPA funds give the county an opportunity to improve the housing system throughout.
“By increasing our bridge housing capacity, we can provide safer places for vulnerable residents, create stability to support communities’ overall health and wellbeing and make Snohomish County an even better place to live, work, and play,” Somers said in a statement.
In contrast to the $13.1 million used by Snohomish County, King County has spent over $198 million on its Health Through Housing initiative from sales tax revenue to purchase 10 hotels to convert to emergency housing.
So far, nearly 600 people are housed in King County through the initiative with 980 beds available. For Snohomish County, the Partnership Program and Days Inn hotel purchase will create 110 spaces in 2022 alone, which is a 17% increase in Snohomish County’s system capacity. At the end of 2021, the county tallied a total of 646 shelter beds provided year-round.
The Days Inn will provide 24/7 on-site staffing with access to wraparound services, including food, hygiene, employment services, legal service, and mental health and substance use disorder services, according to the county.
The Snohomish County Council received the purchase agreement for the Days Inn from Somers. The Council will consider the proposal and take public comment next week. The county said it intends to purchase additional properties in the coming weeks, with council approval.