Lincoln County commissioners have approved $80,000 from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funds to help emergency winter shelter programs in Yachats, Newport and Lincoln City.
Newport’s Grace Wins Haven and Coastal Support Services of Lincoln City will each get $30,000 for hotel voucher programs. Lincoln City has a warming shelter that opens when the nighttime temperature dips below 40 degrees, while Newport relies exclusively on booking rooms at discounted winter rates to shelter homeless people during dangerously cold weather.
A $20,000 grant to Yachats Community Presbyterian Church supplements $70,000 approved by Yachats City Council last month for emergency shelters being set up in the church parking lot. The church estimated it needed at least another $5,000 to erect five 8-by-8-foot prefabricated shelters.
The heated, pallet-based structures are an emergency measure following an October finding by a deputy state fire marshal that the pavilion behind Yachats Commons, which housed up to eight people a night last winter, could not be used as an overnight shelter because it does not have a fire suppression system.
YCPC Pastor Bob Barrett announced in a post to the church’s Facebook page Tuesday that materials were scheduled to arrive Monday, Dec. 19 and assistance was needed with assembly and tools. The shelters will be located in the church’s west parking lot adjacent to the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
While there may be other issues besides fire suppression associated with using the pavilion as an overnight shelter, if fire suppression is the only issue, I think a system could be installed for less than the $95,000 the three shelters will cost.