Tri-Cities hotels to shelter homeless and quarantined in face of coronavirus

At least one Tri-Cities hotel could soon be housing the homeless who have no other place to sleep because of the coronavirus.

The state Department of Commerce awarded a more than $700,000 grant for sheltering the homeless in Benton and Franklin counties.

The unnamed hotel agreed to house people displaced because slightly more than half as many people can be housed at the Tri-City Union Gospel Mission in Pasco because of social distancing restrictions.

“We have worked out an agreement with one of the local hotel chains to provide quarantine beds and meals for individuals my office refers to them,” said Kyle Sullivan, Department of Human Services’ administrator.

The hotel also may house homeless individuals who need to be quarantined to make sure they are not suffering from the COVID-19 respiratory illness.

The state is sending out $30 million in emergency funding to local jurisdictions to help the homeless or people made homeless by COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The state Department of Commerce wants to make sure people are helped quickly, said Director Lisa Brown.

People looking for emergency housing can call Housing Resource Services at 509-737-3946.

Fewer mission beds

The Housing Resources Center is stepping in just as the Tri-Cities Union Gospel Mission reduced the number of people who can stay at their men’s shelter by 70 from a high of 160.

“Otherwise they’re all crammed in there and social distancing is not going to work,” said Andrew Porter, the mission’s executive director. “We’re trying to do the best we can. It is a unique situation.”

It’s one of many moves the shelter is making to limit the risk of transmitting of the new coronavirus.

They’ve also starting having fewer people sit at each table during meals, increased the amount of sanitizing and has staff serving meals to people outside the building.

The men and women remaining at the two mission shelters are on lockdown, Porter said. They can sign out to go to a doctor’s appointment or a workplace, but mission staff want to prevent them from wandering around.

Since Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-at-home order went into place earlier this week, the mission stopped using volunteers. They’ve also sent home employees most at risk of having a bad outcome from COVID-19.

The people staying at the shelter stepped up to help with cleaning and cooking, Porter said.

With fewer people working, and with no volunteers, they’ve had to put on hold their programs aimed at helping people transition away from homelessness, he said.

“We’re going back to basics with just feeding and sheltering people,” he said. “When that lightens up hopefully we can get some things moving again.”

All of this is happening at the same time that Kennewick’s Daysprings Ministries shut down their Bruneau Place location March 19 where they served meals, encouraging people to turn to the mission for help.

Dropping donations

Food hoarding combined with a spike in layoffs and more people staying home is making it harder for the mission to provide meals, Porter said.

Much of their food is provided by grocery stores donating extra that they aren’t able to sell. With people scooping shelves bare, the grocery stores haven’t been able to provide leftover staples like bread.

Porter said the shortage is a change from earlier in the year, when the mission gave out loaves with food boxes because there was more than they could use in the shelter.

The mission is continuing to hand out meals outside the shelter, but has run into problems finding the to-go containers because restaurants have bought more than normal so they can continue selling food.

Food donations also dried up as people stay home and worry about having a job.

“We’re a Christian organization. Our faith is in God,” said Porter. “We just ask for the community to send in some food. They can call ahead. We’ll open the gate. We don’t receive any government funds.”

People can call 509-792-1539 to drop off food. They can donate financially by mail at Tri-City Union Gospel Mission, PO Box 1443, Pasco, WA 99301 or online.

People looking for a spot at the men’s shelter can call 509-792-1539 and for the women and children’s shelter call 509-308-5386.

This story was originally published March 28, 2020 at 1:25 PM.