PowerHouse Ministry Center in East Wenatchee in February 2022.
World photo/Rufus WoodsEAST WENATCHEE — After nearly 11 years of serving local homeless people, PowerHouse Ministry Center is closing at the end of the week.
PowerHouse board member Kate Haugen wrote in an email that the building they rented at 1052 Valley Mall Parkway is being sold to an unknown buyer, and rent will increase to $5,000 a month.
Haugen wrote that PowerHouse was founded in November of 2011 by Shalom Church of Wenatchee, and “was already operating on a very minimal budget.” Shalom church operates out of the upstairs of the building, and is looking for a new home.
PowerHouse served as a daytime, low-barrier shelter. Low-barrier shelters take anyone, regardless of current drug or alcohol activity, to give them a place to sleep and begin moving towards sobriety or assistance. Haugen wrote the shelter typically saw 20-70 people a day.
The Columbia River Homeless Housing Task Force in March agreed to give PowerHouse a stop-gap award of $2,000 a month for up to two years.
Task force member and Wenatchee Councilwoman Linda Herald said she was sad to hear the shelter is closing.
“They provided day services, it was a place for homeless to go get food and just have a place to be during the day, and they didn’t have to hang out on the street,” Herald said.
In addition to food, the shelter provided free laundry, showers, clothing, and a place “for those to feel safe in order to take care of their basic needs,” according to Haugen. It also provided resources for social services, in hopes that folks would start working towards getting clean and find help to “start new lives,” Haugen wrote.
Herald said the housing task force is still working toward providing assistance for the homeless population. She said the task force has a goal of seeing fewer than 115 people living on the streets, and it’s also working toward providing more welfare services.
She said there are still places to go for people who were using PowerHouse.
Wenatchee Rescue Mission at 1450 S. Wenatchee Ave., can house up to 75 men and has 25 low-barrier beds. The People’s Foundation at 810 S. Wenatchee Ave. just purchased its building and is working to expand and receive permits to provide more high-barrier and low-barrier shelter beds.
“It’s sad, I’m really sorry to see it,” Herald said of the PowerHouse’s closing. “They were a great resource and I wish there was more to do to help them.”
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