City shares six-month report on first Safe Stay Community
August 22, 2022
Press Release Date:
Monday, August 22, 2022
With the help of funding from the City of Vancouver’s Affordable Housing Fund, the City opened its first Safe Stay Community located at 11400 NE 51st Circle on Dec. 23, 2021. More than six months later, it continues to provide the most vulnerable in our community with comfortable, dry and secure surroundings and access to high-quality, compassionate healthcare and social services while they work to transition out of homelessness.
The City has developed a report summarizing the Community’s key accomplishments and services Safe Stay Community residents received in its first six months of operation (Dec. 23, 2021 – June 30, 2022).
Key accomplishments include:
- 74 referrals made to partner agencies for medical and mental health care, education, employment, housing, pet care and other benefits assistance
- 14 people transitioned to housing
- 30% reduction in police calls and officer-initiated visits within a 500 ft radius of the community compared to the same time last year
- 9.6% reduction in Fire/EMS calls to the community address compared to the same time last year
INVITATION TO MEDIA
Members of the media are invited to visit the Safe Stay Community on Tuesday, Aug. 23 at 9:30 a.m. when City staff, providers and residents will be available for interviews.
What: Media availability to discuss the Six Month Report on its first Safe Stay Community
Where: 11400 NE 51st Circle, Vancouver, WA 98682
When: 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Vancouver’s Safe Stay Community program, with a second site now open at 4915 E. Fourth Plain Blvd., continues to be a model for municipalities and organizations—both locally and nationwide—aspiring to develop similar programs. To date, more than 20 groups from as far away as Birmingham, Alabama and Chattanooga, Tennessee have reached out for information, guidance and/or to tour the sites.
CONTACT: Tim Becker, Strategic Communications Manager, tim.becker@cityofvancouver.us, (360) 831-3240