When complete, the 120-bed Bridge Shelter will provide a safe, low-barrier place to stay with a full range of supportive services to help people experiencing homelessness transition to permanent housing
VANCOUVER – On Monday (Oct. 13), members of the Vancouver City Council approved a $9.38 million contract with Tapani, Inc. to construct a Bridge Shelter at 5313 N.E. 94th Ave., marking another major milestone in the community’s effort to expand shelter and supportive services to address Vancouver’s homelessness emergency. Construction is expected to begin this November.
“Selecting a contractor is the next milestone for the Bridge Shelter project and expanding the safety net for our unhoused neighbors,” said Lon Pluckhahn, Vancouver’s City manager. “The shelter reflects the collective commitment of Vancouver to make progress on homelessness through compassion and collaboration.”
To speed up construction and reduce costs, the Bridge Shelter will use pre-engineered steel structures built off-site. This approach minimizes waste, labor and energy use while shortening the on-site construction timeline. The shelter is expected to open in fall 2026.
When complete, the 120-bed Bridge Shelter will provide a safe, low-barrier place to stay with a full range of supportive services to help people experiencing homelessness transition to permanent housing. Shelter operations will be led by Do Good Multnomah, with on-site case management, referrals for physical and mental health care, employment support and other individualized services. The Cowlitz Indian Tribe will provide on-site medical services to treat drug addiction.
The shelter’s dormitory building will include meeting spaces, showers, laundry and community areas. A second structure will house a kitchen and a large communal dining and gathering space, which can also be used for emergency weather sheltering.
Funds to establish the shelter come from the city’s 2025-26 general fund, as well as grants, donations and partners. Funding partners to date include the Clark County Opioid Abatement Council, Clark County’s Mental Health Sales Tax, PeaceHealth’s Community Health Improvement Plan Grant and the Ed and Dolly Lynch Fund at the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington.
The Bridge Shelter is part of a broader network of city response efforts to address the homelessness emergency in Vancouver. Learn more at www.cityofvancouver.us/bridgeshelter.
Information provided by the city of Vancouver.
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The cost works out to just under $79,000 per bed to build this nightmare. It will cost just under $35,000 per bed, to operate for 1 year.
I have seen nothing definitive about what it will cost to outfit with beds, furniture, gear for a commercial kitchen, and other items, but I assume it will be another substantial amount of tax money.
Keep in mind that this is a ten year minimum burden directly on taxpayers and business owners. There is also absolutely nothing under the law that requires a chronic, migratory vagrant to accept any shelter whatsoever. I will bet a burger that this facility will have immediate problems filling those 120 beds, while we still pay for the illusion of full occupancy.
There will still be a huge number of vagrants who refuse shelter, participation in any activity to better their conditions, or are simply ineligible for any public shelter because of their criminal history.
The entire premise of the City of Vancouver’s homeless program is little more than the biggest ongoing gaslighting of the public we have seen since Loot Rail. Go read the “Homeless Emergency” reports Jamie Spinelli files each month and see what you make of all her cheery good news fluff.
Clark County taxpayers are also on the hook here, as the County has agreed to help finance this in return for 30% of the beds. Clark County has no better idea of what this will cost down the road any better than City Clowncil does.
This will not end well.
Wish CCT would replace the +/- option so I could give you a thumbs-up, Bob, for what you’ve written. Couldn’t agree more. What started out several years ago as a “helping hand for the homeless” (via a supposed short term Vancouver City property tax increase) has now – as many of us forecasted – turned into an even greater, ongoing property tax burden with no end in sight. As is usual, once a tax is put into place, don’t EVER think it will come to an end!
The homeless industrial complex is alive and well and thriving in Vancouver! Between Czar Spinelli and all the non-profits that have their greedy hands in the pot, no one really wants a solution for homelessness. Just think of all the people who’d be out of work, and all the organizations that would cease operations and whose well-paid CEOs would be jobless, should there be no more homelessness. Spinelli and her ilk, and all the associated non-profits, DO NOT WANT TO SEE AN END to their gravy-train!
Don’t be fooled. This “bridge shelter” will be shown on paper to be so successful that property-owning taxpayers will end up footing the bill for yet another similar shelter… further feeding the homeless industrial complex.
As for me, I’d rather see a significant local sales-tax increase, along with the removal of any homeless-add-on’s from my property-tax and my car-registration, and let the pain be felt by every resident in Clark County. As a homeowner, I’m sick and tired of being the never-ending sugar-daddy for Vancouver City and Clark County. Once everyone starts feeling the pain, I’d wager that there’d be some changes resulting in less funds for these feel-good, ideological programs.