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Community Lifeline seeks emergency county aid after funding shortfall; county to consider contract amendments for eviction-prevention services
Summary
Erin Martinak, board chair of Community Lifeline, told the Mason County commissioners the nonprofit shelter faces corrective-action sanctions and about $300,000–$400,000 in past liabilities and asked the board to place an emergency request for $25,000 per month for three months on a future action agenda to keep the shelter open.
Erin Martinak, board chair of Community Lifeline, briefed the Mason County Board of Commissioners on the nonprofit shelter’s financial and operational situation and asked for short-term county support.
Martinak said Community Lifeline owns its shelter building, has capacity for 54 people but reduced operations to 15 nightly guests to match funding, and currently operates with four part-time overnight staff and two case managers. She described lengthy case-management work to place clients in treatment or permanent supportive housing, and said grants have supported case-management and overnight staffing but not facility operating costs.
"So $25,000 each month over the next 3 months, to keep the shelter open," Martinak said, asking commissioners to place that emergency funding request on a future action agenda.
Martinak told the board the organization is carrying prior liabilities: roughly $300,000 owed to the federal government and additional unpaid state liabilities for L&I and unemployment, and she estimated a total outstanding of about $400,000 tied to past payroll and tax decisions made before current leadership. Because of those issues the nonprofit was denied a recent NOFO award from the county and is in corrective action; Martinak said the group has completed one of three corrective steps and is working to submit consecutive error-free invoices for reimbursement under its 2163 (Commerce through Public Health) grant.
Martinak said Community Lifeline is pursuing multiple responses: applying for new grants (including preparing a 2025–2027 homeless-response RFP), coordinating with partner agencies to expand services, seeking to sell its building to resolve facility costs, and continuing evacuation and referral work that has placed several clients into longer-term housing or treatment during the past year.
On contracts, county staff presented two contract amendment requests for consolidated homeless grant supplemental funds: one for Crossroads Housing and one for Shelton Family Center (Hughes Connection). Each amendment would fund eviction-prevention programming for 15 additional households; the Shelton Family Center amendment also contains modest facility-support dollars for beds and bedding. Staff asked to place both amendments on the next action agenda for approval.
The presenter also sought approval to place a news-release item on the next action agenda announcing the county’s 2025–2027 homeless-response RFP for providers of emergency shelter, rental assistance, housing and essential needs, and coordinated entry.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about case-management capacity, where alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment beds are located (regional detox options were named), and how corrective-action invoice requirements affect reimbursement. Martinak noted the shelter is working with HUD-funded case-management and other grants; she said six people had been referred to long-term supportive housing and two had entered, and 10 had entered inpatient AOD treatment in the past year.
No formal vote was recorded during the briefing; commissioners agreed to place the requested items on a future action agenda for formal consideration.
