BELLINGHAM, Wash. — The City of Bellingham hopes to establish a new winter shelter for homeless women and children in a building at Civic Field.
Mayor Kelli Linville sent a letter in June asking organizations if they had room for a shelter, and after receiving no replies, the city began looking at its own resources.
Staffers decided the locker room building at Civic Field would work and the city is moving forward with an application for a permit.
Mayor Linville says there is definitely a need, with the Lighthouse Mission at capacity and another temporary shelter no longer operating.
The shelter for 40 people would cost the city an estimated $80,000 to operate.
It would be an overnight-only shelter except in extreme weather, and guests would be pre-screened.