by Meghan Fenwick
In a Whatcom County Council meeting on September 24, Human Services Manager Ann Beck updated the council on their progress in establishing a severe weather shelter between November 2024 and February 2025. Below freezing temperatures can pose significant health and safety risks to homeless individuals.
The biggest challenge was finding a location, said Beck. Just in time, Lutheran Community Services Northwest leased their 925 N. Forest Street property in early November, paid for by a Washington State Department of Commerce grant.
The shelter will open each night that temperatures reach or drop below 32 degrees and can hold up to 70 adults. The status of the shelter is updated daily on the county’s website. (1)
“I used to always say it would be easier to site an airport in downtown Bellingham than a shelter,” said Hans Erchinger-Davis, president and CEO of Lighthouse Mission Ministries (Lighthouse). (2)
Though the number of people experiencing homelessness on a given night can be difficult to quantify, it is safe to say that more than 70 adults will seek shelter on a cold Bellingham night. Another option, on any night of the year, is the Lighthouse Mission Ministries’ new 300-capacity shelter at 1312 F Street.

photo courtesy: Lighthouse Mission Ministries
Lighthouse Mission Ministries new homeless shelter Basecamp, located on the corner of F and Holly streets, is open for walk-in service 24/7.
From Unhoused to Healed
The shelter, known as Base Camp, opened in October with a $29 million budget. They provide over 700 meals a day and averaged about 87 percent capacity in the first two weeks of January. The five story building includes an office space, medical respite center, dorms and a cafeteria. The general lobby and patio areas are open 24/7. Separate floors provide dorms for single adults and families.
Within the next year, Lighthouse plans to expand Base Camp and open up another story of the building for mental health dorms. The project is currently $1 million short, which impedes the operating budget needed for staffi ng and prevents a full roll-out of the shelter, said Erchinger-Davis.
Erchinger-Davis can remember a time when the shelters were rarely at capacity. He began working at Lighthouse in 2006 and became president and CEO 10 years later. Both the housing crisis in 2008 and the pandemic presented a rise in community members seeking shelter. The previous Base Camp, which opened in 2020 after moving locations due to social distancing protocols, provided beds to 200 people nightly.
The new Base Camp is the most recent of a long line of buildings that Lighthouse has leased on a short-term basis since their establishment in 1923. Lighthouse believes that this is an investment both in the future of the organization and the community at large. The nonprofit is funded through private donations. An additional $1 million grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce helped fund the new shelter.
“The community is invested, they see the problem and they want to solve it,” said Taras McCurdie, communications coordinator for Lighthouse. “If someone is battling an addiction, or trying to flee domestic violence, not only can they stay here but they can find the resources they need to get back on their feet.”
Across the street from Base Camp are two buildings that house Lighthouse’s Ascent and Agape programs, which offer faith-based recovery paths for men and women battling addiction and other life hurdles. For up to two years, those experiencing homelessness are supported by counseling and case management and are connected to resources for legal, medical, housing and workforce help.
“Housing is not our end goal, but it is certainly part of it,” Erchinger-Davis said. “We also want a flourishing full life for someone that leaves our care.”
Erchinger-Davis said Lighthouse holds memorial services for six to eight people monthly. He believes that the upgraded building and new amenities will improve Lighthouse’s ability to reach more people with more sophisticated interventions.
“For a lot of folks, they show up and feel like a pile of dirt,” Erchinger-Davis said. “When they come out on the other side, their eyes are wide open, and they are able to see opportunities again.”
Lighthouse works with local businesses to hire graduates of their programs, which is one of the most inspiring milestones to both the residents and staff. A coffee and donut shop on the ground floor of Base Camp is in the design phase, to be eventually staffed by graduates.

photo courtesy: Lighthouse Mission Ministries
The Christian and Catholic faith provide the framework for Lighthouse Mission Ministries’ mission. Nightly residents are not required to be religious or participate in group bible study or prayer.
Expanding the Reach
In the 2024 snapshot of homelessness (3), an annual study conducted by Whatcom County Health and Community Services and the Opportunity Council, 671 individuals and families experiencing homelessness were surveyed. This number is considered to be an underestimation of the total population, said Chris D’Onofrio, housing and homeless supervisor of health and community services.
A few phone calls can determine how many sheltered individuals there are on any given night. Unsheltered individuals can be harder to locate, and many decline to be surveyed. The report also looks at the number of applicants to housing assistance programs through Whatcom County’s Coordinated Entry System. Between 2023 and 2024, that number increased from about 400 to 1,000.
In addition to the severe weather shelter in Bellingham, two more facilitated by the county in Ferndale and Lummi Nation will open more beds. Several other nonprofi ts, such as Lydia’s Place, Northwest Youth Services and YWCA Bellingham, offer drop-in services and transitional housing programs for specific demographics. For example, children and young adults experiencing homelessness may have specific needs that a general homeless shelter does not provide.
“ If you look at the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness and you compare that to the number of vacant beds, it’s a mismatch,” D’Onofrio said. “There’s a lot more people out there who need beds than we have beds.”
Not all homeless individuals choose to stay in shelters for a variety of reasons. They may have conflict with someone staying in the shelter, have high social anxiety, or do not want to adhere to the rules such as a ban on substance use, said Erchinger-Davis.
“The rules are super basic, it’s sometimes harder to go to a restaurant,” Erchinger-Davis said. “But some people can’t, or aren’t yet motivated for change.”
Head Counts Are Difficult
Unsheltered individuals may stay in their cars, on their friend’s couch, in an encampment or anywhere in between, making it difficult not only to get a head count, but to provide outreach and offer support. Many wish to be secluded, whether they distrust the government, are fleeing from an abuser, or are generally on high alert in a vulnerable state.
“There used to be a lot of cars on Cornwall Avenue towards Glass Beach and you can’t park there anymore,” D’Onofrio said. “We don’t always know where those people went, so they’re harder to stay in touch with and harder to count.”
One encampment near the Walmart on Meridian Street was cleared out in November — city employees estimate 1,000- 2,000 tons of solid waste had accumulated over several years.
The City of Bellingham plans to issue a final notice to the residents of the encampment on Bakerview Avenue on January 16, as the private property owner prepares to clean up the following week. About 70 individuals stayed at this encampment, half of the population of the Walmart encampment.
The severe weather shelter in Bellingham typically determines their schedule 48 hours in advance based on weather forecasts. Due to projected temperatures reaching 20 degrees, and, in preparation for the planned cleanup, the facility will be open for five days beginning January 17. The county is also planning for a surge capacity of up to 90 cots, and will open the lobby for any overflow. Dinner and breakfast will also be provided.
In July, the Bellingham City Council requested the county develop a proposal to expand year-round shelter space. (4) This plan, as well as an updated five-year strategic plan to address homelessness (5), are currently in development, said D’Onofrio. He expects to present a draft to the council by the end of the year, with opportunities for community input.
For the past two winters, the county has released a request for proposal to fund a severe weather shelter for a nonprofit to operate. (6) No organization has responded, said Marie Duckworth, communications specialist for health and community services.
Alongside efforts to expand shelters, the county’s Coordinated Entry System works to provide homelessness prevention, access to transitional and permanent supportive housing, and housing retention for Whatcom residents. These programs ensure that those at differing levels of housing insecurity can find stability and avoid falling through the gaps.
Even though the data shows that more people received access to services through the Coordinated Entry Housing Pool, the number of people experiencing homelessness remained relatively stagnant between 2023 and 2024. The previous study showed a 33 percent increase in homelessness between 2022 and 2023, and represented the highest head count since the study was first conducted in 2008.
“Every time someone gets help with their rent, gets help with their down payment, gets into subsidized housing, gets into permanent supportive housing, every time the system works for someone and you don’t see that person on the street, that person becomes invisible,” Duckworth said. “It’s harder to see the successes when our challenges are much more visible.”
The number-one reason survey respondents cited for homelessness was housing affordability. D’Onofrio has described the lack of affordable housing being a consistent underlying factor for homelessness in our community.
In November, Bellingham Mayor Kim Lund signed an executive order to increase affordable housing developments, highlighting several key actions to focus on in the coming months. (7)
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Meghan Fenwick is a graduate of Western Washington University who recently earned her degree in environmental journalism.
References:
- https://www.whatcomcounty.us/3167/Winter-Shelters
- https://www.thelighthousemission.org/home/
- https://www.whatcomcounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/87106/2024-homelessness-report
- https://cob.org/wp-content/uploads/Signed-Letter-Regarding-Year-Round-Shelter.pdf
- https://www.whatcomcounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/44575/Strategic-Plan-to-End-Homelessness-in-Whatcom-County-2019
- https://www.whatcomcounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/88480/24-82-Severe-Weather-or-Winter-Shelter-Facility-Operators-Bham-City-Limits?bidId=
- https://cob.org/wp-content/uploads/Executive-Order-2024-02-Expanding-Housing-Options-in-Bellingham.pdf