In partnership with Metro Parks Tacoma and City of Tacoma, Valeo is preparing to activate our second warming shelter site in Northeast Tacoma. CoT warming shelters are designed to meet the need of the loss of additional inclement weather beds, due to social distancing requirements that COVID-19 has enforced. Each cold winter season, shelters are traditionally able to temporarily expand capacity to allow more folks to have a warm place to sleep. As COVID-19 has done the opposite, reducing capacity in all shelters, warming shelters are activated to meet the need to offer more space so our houseless neighbors can have a reprieve from the elements.

The facility is a 25-bed capacity and will not offer day shelter visitors. The site is for women, couples and women with children over the age of 18. Due to the complexity of the facility and the smoking ban on public park property, Valeo has decided it will be a non-smoking site. We have started a waitlist and hope to rely on partner shelters to refer eligible candidates, increasing shelter capacity at the referring partners.

Valeo will be running a shuttle to transport guests between shelters, provide transportation to/from the site for necessary appointments, and run meal services when needed. The site should activate Monday (final date not quite set, could be this Friday..), is currently set to run through the end of February, and we are working to provide a transition plan for guests. At Eastside Community Center, we've served more than 180 unduplicated guests, have moved 13 residents into tiny homes, employed 8 individuals through Valeo, enrolled 6 into Valeo's flagship TEP program, provided 3 chemical dependency evaluations and secured 2 inpatient bed facilities. We have partnered with Multicare Behavioral Health and Comprehensive Life Resources (CLR) for behavioral health referrals and case management services, respectively. CLR is providing ample case management services and I will be collecting data from them shortly for how many services they have been able to provide.

Please reach out to Valeo's Shelter Manager Mike Boisture to refer eligible women, couples and women with adult children to reserve a spot. mike@valeovocation.org. You can also call the ECC shelter for any questions at: 253-392-4014. You can also always call me directly on my cell at: 253-691-2846.