Electrician found, five homeless shelters on Yachats church property could open by Sunday

By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews

YACHATS — As high winds, pounding rain and a power outage struck the area Monday, an electrician was at work to get five homeless shelters in operating order.

The prefabricated shelters, located in the west parking lot of Yachats Community Presbyterian Church, were delivered and assembled Dec. 19. However, they can’t be opened for use until an electrician hooked up the units’ heaters and lights.

Through a local family that had donated $15,000 for “Don’s Place,” the project gained the services of an electrician from Eugene, who completed his work Wednesday. A Lincoln County electrical inspection was scheduled Thursday.

Pastor Bob Barrett, a member of the Yachats Unhoused Committee that is in charge of the shelter project, said he has been assured by Central Lincoln People’s Utility District that a meter hook-up will follow county approval.

“Assuming this all happens quickly, we plan to be ready Jan. 15,” he said.

Don’s Place is for emergency shelter in seasonal cold weather. Plans are for the units to operate from Nov. 1 through March 31, and to be open on any day when temperatures drop to 35 degrees or less, or 40 degrees or less and raining. Sheets, blankets and pillows for the shelters have been ordered.

For the first two weeks or so of operation, the shelter project will be staffed and monitored by “hand-selected volunteers,” Barrett said. The committee was scheduled to meet for its first round of volunteer training Friday.

The units were funded by a city allocation of $70,000 from an unused pandemic loan fund, a $20,000 grant from Lincoln County and the $15,000 private donation.

Each 8-by-8 foot shelter can house one to two people. The project is named after Don Dougherty, a longtime and well-regarded local homeless man who died last fall after being found unresponsive in his car.