General Meeting - Topic: Updates on DESC Homeless Shelters in our Neighborhood

Last Thursday night, Noah Fay came to speak to the HLCC community regarding the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) shelters in our neighborhood.

Noah is the DESC housing director having worked there for 18 years.

DESC has been around since the 1970s and has primarily been known for offering congregate shelters for the Seattle single adult homeless population.  A congragate shelter is one in which residents share a sleeping space either on floor mats or in bunks.  But, in general, the residents are in close proximity to each other.  With the COVID pandemic, the close proximity presented a challenge for social distancing.  As a result, DESC was able to secure the use of a hotel in Renton to house the residents.  The residents got a their own spaces which afforded greater privacy and autonomy than the congregate shelters.  

Noah explained how the move to to hotel made significant differences in the stability and wellbeing for many residents that had been coming to the congregate shelter for years.  This finding led to DESC seeking out more facilities to use in this same way.

Two hotel-based shelters were setup in the Haller Lake neighborhood:

  • Mary Pilgrim - Previously a Holiday Inn Express at 14115 Aurora Ave N - 100 beds
  • Northgate - Previously an Extended Stay America at 13140 Stone Ave N - 135 beds

The residents of these shelters are screened and selected through a process working with the King County Regional Homeless Authority.  They do not provide walk-in services at these facilities.  Both facilities are staffed with medical nurses and Mary Pilgrim offers mental health care as well.  They also help residents find work too.

DESC is funded via State, County and City funding sources as well as insurance and medicaid.  Of note is funding received throung the King County Health and Housing Initiative which is funded through 0.1% of sales tax.  Homeless services are funded centrally through the King County Regional Homeless Authority.

Note that DESC does not manage the Tiny Home projects that we have on Aurora. 

Here is a link to the recording for this presentation:  https://youtu.be/o7SLhqQybM0



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