Community Health and Safety Committee Receives Update on Everett New Start Center – September 3, 2026
Community Health and Safety Committee Receives Update on Everett New Start Center – September 3, 2026
The Everett City Council's Community Health and Safety Committee met on September 3, 2026, to receive a detailed update from Snohomish County officials and the Salvation Army on the new Everett New Start Center, a bridge housing program designed to transition homeless individuals to permanent housing. The presentation covered the center's structure, eligibility criteria, referral process, services, and community impact plans.
Discussion Items
- Snohomish County Update on New Start Center: County Chief of Staff Julie Moore provided background: the center is one of two bridge housing facilities (the other in Edmonds) purchased four years ago with ARPA and county funds. The Edmonds center, operated by YWCA, opened June 29, 2026, and currently houses 11 clients (expected to reach 13 by the end of the week). The Everett center, located in a converted two-story hotel, has 71 client rooms and will be operated by the Salvation Army. A grand opening was held on August 28, 2026, with over 100 attendees.
- Program Model: Susan Christ (Snohomish County Office of Community and Homeless Services) explained the model is a new form of temporary, structured bridge housing with a 90-day intended stay. It is not a low-barrier shelter; clients must be referred by designated partners (e.g., Everett Care Team, Everett Gospel Mission, Cocoon House) and must meet minimum eligibility requirements set by the County Council, including no convictions in the last five years, no substance use within 30 days, and no children or couples in the same room. The program targets individuals already engaged in housing stability planning. 75% of clients are expected to come from the Everett area.
- Client Services and Conduct: Captain Jen Pack and Program Director McKenzie Orr (Salvation Army) described wraparound services: intensive case management, on-site health and behavioral health support, employment and benefits assistance, three meals daily, laundry, and a 10 p.m. curfew with exceptions. A code of conduct prohibits weapons, drugs, alcohol, and violence. Violations are handled with a tiered approach; immediate exit is reserved for safety threats. The center will have 24/7 security, a camera system, and a Good Neighbor Plan with regular community meetings.
- Councilmember Questions and Discussion: Councilmember Weir asked clarifying questions about couples being housed separately (logistical and programmatic reasons), eligibility for individuals with mental health challenges (allowed if they can perform daily living activities and are engaged in treatment), permanent housing pathways after the 90-day stay (case managers will seek creative options, but no guaranteed housing), referral and intake timeline (goal of one week or less), curfew exceptions (accommodations for work or school), visitor policies (case-by-case, common areas only), and health care access (partners available for benefits enrollment and mobile clinics). Councilmember Weir expressed support and excitement for the program, noting it fills a needed niche.
Key Outcomes
- The committee received the update without a formal vote. Next steps: The county will collect data and produce a report by the end of 2026 to evaluate client eligibility criteria and program outcomes, which the County Council will use to consider potential changes.
- The Salvation Army will begin accepting referrals from partner agencies this week and anticipates a four-month ramp-up to full occupancy.
- Ongoing communication between the city, county, and Salvation Army will continue through community meetings and the Good Neighbor Plan.
Meeting Transcript
All right. Good afternoon. This is September 2nd, 2026. We're at the uh Everett City Count Council Chambers for the Community Health and Safety Committee meeting. I am Councilmember Tui along with Councilmember Weir here this afternoon. Today I'm real excited for this update. We have a Snohomish County update on the New Start Center that's in Everett. Real anxious to hear how all that's going. So I'm just going to go ahead and turn it over to Julie and welcome all of you. Thank you. We're having some technical difficulties. So bear with me while I just click. The audio is making a lot of noise. I don't think now so we can just try. Yeah, I can't figure out why I can't get over to this section. Okay. All right. Okay, there we are. I'm going to hand this over to this side. So thank you for having us this evening. I just wanted to start with some opening remarks. Um, we're excited to be here to have a conversation on the Everett New Start Center. Um, we'll start with just some introductions. I'm Julie Moore. I'm chief of staff to Snomish County Executive Dave Summers. I'll let my colleagues introduce themselves. Hello, I'm Susan Christ. I work for Snomish County. I'm in the Office of Community and Homeless Services, and I am a supervisor overseeing the contracts for this effort. Hi, I'm Captain Jen Pack myself as well as Captain Stephen Pack, my spouse, oversee all of the Salvation Army operations here in Snowhomish County. And I'm McKenzie Orr. I am the program director for the Everett New Start Center. So before I hand it over to the subject matter experts, just want to give some brief background. Last Friday we had a wonderful grand opening celebration of the Everett New Start Center. We had a few members of the Everett City Council there for the celebration. So that was wonderful. There's been some really good articles in the media about the event and the building. I don't know if you've had an opportunity to check those out. By way of brief background, we'll get into this more. Four years ago, Snomish County purchased two properties with the vision of turning them into bridge housing. And bridge housing is a temporary transitional housing with wraparound services that's meant to help homeless individuals get a fresh start. And to that end, the buildings were named the New Start Center. We've got two of them, one is in Edmonds and one in Everett. Over the last four years, there's been a tremendous amount of work poured into these buildings into this project. There's been testing, decontamination, repairs to pipes, underlying moisture damage, lots of additions to lighting and security, complete overhauls of client rooms, shared spaces, and much more. Unfortunately, this was not a quick turnaround project, but that's okay. It's intended to be a project that saves lives for generations to come. The purchase and renovations were made possible by ARPA Funds, the Federal American Rescue Plan Act Funds, along with uh County Affordable Housing and Behavioral Health Funds. The Edmonds New Start Center was the first of the two buildings that had opened, and we celebrated that grand opening on June 29th. The Edmonds Center is being operated by the YWCA, and they've been slowly ramping up their services and have started welcoming uh residents.
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