WHIDBEY WEEKLY: Freeland residents question supportive housing plans for motel

Kathy Reed reports from Island County Commissioner Melanie Bacon’s community meeting of June 16.

A boisterous, standing-room-only crowd filled Trinity Lutheran Church’s meeting room last Thursday evening (June 16) to learn more about potential plans to convert the Harbor Inn motel in Freeland to supportive and transitional housing.

They Said It

“I just want to be real clear…we’re not talking about drop-ins, we’re not talking about transients, we’re not talking about overnight housing,” [Island County Commissioner Melanie] Bacon responded to those concerned LIHI would bring in residents from Seattle.

“People are having a hard time differentiating between supportive housing and the type of housing LIHI is mostly known for, which is homeless housing in Seattle,” Bacon said in response to a follow up question from Whidbey Weekly. “LIHI uses the term ‘low barrier housing’ in their documents. If you Google ‘low barrier housing,’ it’s defined as emergency shelter that doesn’t require background checks or sobriety. But neither LIHI nor Island County intend for that to be the case in Freeland, and we are ADAMANT that our human services people WILL screen the applicants and make referrals for the housing based on that screening. This is not a drop-in facility, or a place for people and their friends to flop between drug doses—we intend this as a place for people who are working to improve their lives and just need safety and a little assistance from the government to help them transition to the next, better phase in their lives.”