EDMONDS — When the homeless need short-term shelter from the cold, it should be available to them.
That’s the rationale for a proposed ordinance aimed at plugging a hole in zoning laws that don’t specifically allow temporary homeless shelters anywhere in the city.
The Edmonds City Council is expected to consider adopting the ordinance today.
In late 2008, seven churches in Lynnwood and Edmonds began taking in homeless people when temperatures dipped to 33 degrees or less for at least four days straight.
Officials with other Edmonds churches expressed an interest in joining that coalition but could not because their facilities lacked working fire sprinklers, said Eileeen Hanson, a pastor with Trinity Lutheran Church in Lynnwood. Edmonds’ proposal is an effort to help those churches.
Her church and Good Shepherd Baptist Church of Lynnwood are the only two in the seven-church coalition that meet fire safety sprinkler standards, Hanson said.
“We think churches have the right to exercise their freedom of religion,” Edmonds Councilman D.J. Wilson said. “If that means taking in homeless people in times of severe weather, we’re not going to stand in their way.”
Hanson said many churches were built before modern fire regulations required sprinkler systems.
Last March, Edmonds came up with a list of 11 minimum safety guidelines for cold weather shelters.
They include sleeping areas on the first floor, fire sprinklers and at least two exits from the shelter room.
Oscar Halpert: 425-339-3429, ohalpert@heraldnet.com.
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