MOSES LAKE — Nearing the end of their temporary housing lease with Grant County Housing Authority, Moses Lake residents Christopher Guertin and Maranda Walling are submitting applications for housing and work while taking care of their two daughters.

But they have a roof, and they have a path. That’s more than they could say even a few months ago.

Last year, Guertin was a custodian at Eastern State Hospital near Spokane. The pandemic left him without a job and with few options, so he applied for low-income assistance through the Spokane Housing Authority, he said.

But nothing was instantaneous, and rent was due.

His landlord decided to sell the house Guertin was renting, he said, giving Guertin six weeks notice to vacate.

“As soon as I told her I’m going through this program to help get me caught up on my rent she’s like, ‘Yeah, I don’t even want to mess with that,’” Guertin said.

Fearing life on the streets, Guertin and his kids moved to Moses Lake in January to be closer to his brother, parents and other relatives, for support.

Walling, with no family in Moses Lake, opted to stay in Spokane, she said. A recovering heroin addict, she hoped to find greater resources there.

“I was on waiting lists for Oxfords (self-run, self-supported recovery houses), for shelters, for anything I can put my hands on,” she said.

Without luck, she, too, was hit with the hard decision to move. While she didn’t have family in Moses Lake, she said she’s never used there either.

At least it was a “change of playground and playmates,” she said.

At about this time, Guertin’s brother, Michael, told him about the Open Doors Sleep Center on East Broadway Avenue, which opened the month prior.

They didn’t give it a second thought. Their daughters, Marilyn, 7, and Tesla, 4, went to stay with Guertin’s parents, and Walling and Guertin went to the shelter.

“We ain’t got much to lose,” Guertin said. “Thankfully my parents were able to take the kids so they were safe and warm.”

HopeSource staff gave them some toiletry items, a cot and about 20 blankets to insulate them from the January air.

It was a cold stay, Walling said, but a short one.

In the mornings, HopeSource staff does rounds to make sure the beds are fixed and the shelters are clean, Guertin said. At that time most of the guests just leave. Guerting and Walling, however, stayed and met with caseworkers.

Walling had been without support for a long time, she said. She didn’t have any family to help her through. As the caseworkers walked them through their options and services, she took it as abrasive.

“I’m not used to people actually giving a crap,” Walling said.

She spent the entire meeting looking for a catch, she said. She wondered what the shelter was gaining from all this.

The couple explained their situation and filled out some paperwork, Guertin said. Expecting to be at the shelter for weeks, in just three days they moved their daughters into a new home.

“It took me at least a week to be like, ‘Wow, that really just happened,’” Walling said.

Most Sleep Center guests are set in their lifestyle and don’t take advantage of the services, Guertin said.

“Not a lot of people are there to utilize it,” he said. “They’re just there to sleep and maybe get a sack lunch.”

Not only did HopeSource staff take care of their basic food and hygiene needs, but they gave them housing and career path services as well. Walling had never experienced anything like it.

“In my addiction, I stayed in and out of several shelters in Spokane, not even close,” she said. “The shelters in Spokane, everybody’s high and you can tell they’re high. They don’t provide you toiletries or anything like that. It’s a three-hots-and-a-cot situation basically, and these people are a lot different. They want to help get you on your feet.”

More than the services, Walling said, it’s the people. Normally, she doesn’t feel she can be honest about her condition.

“Usually I hold back on that until I feel comfortable,” she said. “Well, (the caseworkers) basically told me that they themselves were recovering addicts and made me comfortable and able to talk about it.”

Staff check in all the time about treatment services, Walling said. While she’s able to take advantage of some, she can’t always commit because of childcare obligations.

Tesla, their 4-year-old daughter, runs about on her new lawn, light-up shoes flaring. The kids are loving it, Walling said.

“They have all their family here, and so they’re pretty happy and content,” she said. “They got mom back... and they got dad.”

As the family inches toward their 90-day limit in temporary housing, Guertin spends his days looking for permanent housing as well as construction and roofing jobs through HopeSource’s career solutions program, he said.

HopeSource staff wrote a letter of recommendation to present to landlords, he said, but it’s stressful.

“Because of what happened in Spokane, not a lot of people are like, ‘Come move in here,’” he said. “It takes a lot of explaining to do and I’m still struggling trying to find a place to go.”

The future is uncertain, Guertin said, but one thing is clear: they wouldn’t be where they are now without the Sleep Center.

“They helped us out to the point where I’ll go down there and volunteer and donate once I get into (a better) spot,” he said.

The timeline was profound, Guertin said. The Sleep Center opened in December. They arrived Jan. 20 and had a home four days later.

If they had been down on their luck the previous year, or even a matter of months before, who knows where they would be, he said.

“I would just encourage anybody in that situation to definitely utilize the resources that they have there,” Guertin said. “It’s not like it’s that hard to do, and if you want it, they’ll help you get it.”

Sam Fletcher can be reached at [email protected].