Seattle considers pop-up ‘pallet shelter’ in latest effort for homeless crisis
Apr 11, 2019, 3:24 PM | Updated: 11:05 pm
Seattle officials are considering a new kind of 鈥減op-up鈥� shelter they say could help people find permanent housing, known as a pallet shelter.
Pallet Shelter is an that builds temporary housing units. On Thursday, work crews set up the company鈥檚 鈥淪helter 64鈥� model on City Hall Plaza — one of three models the company produces.
The 64-square-foot unit has a bunk bed system that can house a family of four. It can potentially have electricity, heating and cooling.
Councilwoman Teresa Mosqueda, who chairs the council鈥檚 Housing, Health, Energy, and Workers Rights Committee, pitched the idea after learning of the shelter鈥檚 success in Lynnwood and Tacoma.
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鈥淭here鈥檚 a 40 percent success rate of getting people into housing,鈥� Mosqueda said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 about twice as successful as we鈥檝e been here in Seattle.鈥�
Mosqueda envisions a shelter set-up similar to Tacoma, where there鈥檚 on-site case management and laundry services.
The pallet shelters cost between $3,500 and $7,500, depending on size and amenities. That鈥檚 cheaper than the tiny houses Seattle currently uses in .
鈥淲e cannot take dollars from the existing shelter options that we have,鈥� Mosqueda said. 鈥淲e need to make sure that folks who are in our current shelters have the funding that they need.鈥�
It鈥檚 not yet known how many pallet shelters Seattle is considering or where they could be set up.
