Day center opens to homeless in Fruit Valley

Homeless for a year and a half, Biel, a former home caregiver and laborer, sleeps in a tent.

“Before, we never had a place to get out of the weather, and we’d just be miserable and unhappy,” he said.

Roughly 30 to 40 homeless people stopped by Tuesday, when the day center at Friends of the Carpenter officially opened its doors at 1600 W. 20th St. (Monday’s scheduled opening was delayed a day because the portable toilets didn’t arrive on time.) Staffed by Share, a local social service agency, hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

“It’s really exciting to see people in the space and using it,” said Tom Iberle, executive director of Friends of the Carpenter, which is leasing out a 1,200-square-foot area in its warehouse facility to the day center.

Initially, the day center is a place the homeless can pick up their mail seven days a week, use the toilet, charge electronics, store belongings, use computers, apply for identification cards and sign up for social service help. In March, construction should be finished on a 450-square-foot facility at the day center with four showers, four restrooms, and a commercial washer and dryer. All services are free.

The day center is critically needed at a time when homeless shelter space and affordable housing are scarce in Vancouver, and camping in public is banned except between 9:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. People need a place to go during the day.

“It’s an overall great project,” said Share House resident manager Scott Smelosky, sorting mail and putting it into a locked file cabinet for clients.

Clark County and the city of Vancouver are funding the day center’s operations, and the Vancouver Housing Authority is covering rent and utilities. Other local nonprofit groups will help with mental health counseling, general education classes, case management and job searches.

On its first day of operation, the long room lined with school-type lockers and shelves of free clothing was in disarray as workers got settled and unpacked. The Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay, which recently closed down, had just donated several bags bulging with clean, white towels. A pile of bags containing donated clothing and blankets needed to be sorted. A delivery man stacked boxes on the floor containing equipment for three computers.

A dozen or so straight-backed chairs were in rows at the center of the room. Soon, a table and comfortable chairs will take their place and it won’t look so sterile, said Chuck Mercier, an outreach case manager with Share.

“This looks like a waiting room right now,” he said. “It’s going to get a lot homier quickly.”

Tamara and Barry Chalcraft nursed cups of coffee and talked to visitors. They’d come hoping to get a gasoline voucher at Friends of the Carpenter. Barry Chalcraft, 60, said he used to be an operations and units manager for GST Telecommunications and a contract worker for Nike.

“Things were going good. We had everything we wanted, everything we needed,” he said.

Ten years ago, he lost his job and spiraled into depression. Married 33 years, the couple got behind on their storage unit payments, and their belongings were auctioned off — photo albums, baby items, furs, jewelry, a canoe. They lived in a Motel 6 for three years, then with roommates, then in a 1989 motorhome.

“We lost everything. Went from a five bedroom to a van. Once you’re out, you’re out. There’s no getting back,” said Tamara Chalcraft, 57, who is studying at Clark College to be a paralegal. “I’m hoping it’ll work out to a livable wage job.”

They’re “flat broke” until her student loans come in for next semester, she said.

“I’ve met a lot of people I probably would’ve never given a second thought to,” she said.