Pallet Housing For Homeless Going Up At Wenatchee Rescue Mission

The long-in-the-works pallet shelters to house homeless people are springing up at the Wenatchee Rescue Mission.

The nonprofit has posted a photo on social media showing the tiny houses being assembled.

A total of 44 pallet shelters will occupy space on the grounds of the Wenatchee Rescue Mission at 1450 South  Wenatchee Ave.

The low-barrier shelters have been in the works for several years.

They're 64 square feet in area and include insulation, heating and cooling, and sleeping bunks at a total cost of $643,460.

Most of the cost of the housing will be paid for by a grant through the Washington State Department of Commerce ($536,690), with the rest ($106,770) coming from the local homeless sales tax collected by East Wenatchee and Wenatchee.

The pallet shelters are manufactured by Pallet PBC in Everett.

The city of Wenatchee ordered 43 two-person units and a single four-person unit to provide emergency shelter for families. The housing units are ADA-compliant.

The push for pallet shelters started in the summer of 2021 when a group from Wenatchee and East Wenatchee toured shelters in Burlington, Everett, and Moses Lake that had sprung up in the previous year.

Those cities had built groups of small, self-contained pallet houses that could each accommodate one person.

The City of Wenatchee in December of 2022 announced it was buying about 45 small housing units known as "Pallet Shelters" for a low-barrier shelter. Delivery at the time was expected to be in mid-April 2023 and the housing was projected to be ready by the Summer of 2023.

Now with the units finally becoming a reality, the Rescue Mission asked for an assist from the public on social media. It said it could use some gently used or new patio furniture, benches, and a few plants to put around the new patio area.