Key points:  

There has been no increase in crime reports associated with unsheltered people after a week without the sleep center.

Clients are struggling with the loss of shelter. 

MOSES LAKE – With the closure of the Moses Lake Sleep Center on June 30, the homeless community in Moses Lake, residents and law enforcement are adjusting to the change in resources serving the unsheltered. 

“I think the big thing is any time we change anything in law enforcement, we try to make the first period while everybody’s getting used to it to be about education and we’re definitely doing that now,” said Jeff Sursely with MLPD. “A lot of our focus now has been educating people as they transition to a time period where there isn’t a sleep center.” 

Sursely said there has been no real increase in the number of calls in relation to unsheltered people in the community since the center’s closure. When there are occurrences where people have attempted to set up in areas where they aren’t supposed to, a quick conversation and explanation of the city ordinances is all that is needed to resolve the situation. 

“I don’t think we’ve made more than one or two arrests for trespassing,” he said. 

Additional requirements in the “Sleep, Sit, Lie, Camping, and Shopping Cart Regs Ordinance 3072” were scheduled to be discussed and possibly voted on by Moses Lake City Council members Tuesday evening. A story on that ordinance and another related to graffiti will be published once all of the relevant information has been gathered. 

As MLPD officers get into a conversation with a person in trespassing and similar situations, they typically try to send the people to HopeSource or Renew to try and get them whatever help they need. Sursely said officers will also ask the individual if and where there is any support available for them and try to help them connect with that support, which may include family. 

“The ultimate goal is to get people into help and treatment and get them more stable because that benefits everybody in the community,” he said.  

For those who used the facility, the focus of the past week has been figuring out what to do next as the summer progresses. 

“We just try and find as much shade as possible where they’ll let us go,” said Linda Daniels, who utilized the sleep center. “Try and stay as cool as possible, especially with our animals.” 

Daniels, along with Brian and Melissa, who asked for their last names not to be included for safety reasons, said it has been a struggle to find spaces where they can stay since they often get trespassed out of most areas. They said the loss of the sleep center and destruction of their camps have caused it, so they have nowhere to go for shelter. 

“That’s really the only place that any of us really had when it came down to it at the end of the day,” said Daniels. 

Brian said having somewhere to sleep always gave him something to look forward to.  

“A little piece of sanctuary or a little piece of life that we don’t have right now, that is just really hard to explain,” said Brian. “It’s like a feeling of hopelessness, just lost.” 

Daniels agreed. 

“Having somewhere to go, like the sleep center, a lot of us miss that,” said Daniels.  

They said they’ve been asked in the past why they don’t just go live in another city, but it’s not always that easy. Daniels said she was born in Moses Lake, where she's lived for 39 years. She wants to be near her family in town. 

Brian said he moved to Moses Lake from Kentucky after losing a job and while looking for another opportunity. His car broke down and was towed and he's been in Moses Lake ever since. Over time, he has formed his own family through the friends he’s made while living here. 

“Meeting these guys and figuring out who’s all right to be with, hang out with and everything and I don’t have that in me again to go through all that in another city,” he said. 

One of the biggest challenges they face in their day-to-day lives, even before the closure of the sleep center, is how they are viewed by others in the community.  

“I think that, personally, people need to stop being cruel to the homeless because we’re not bad people,” said Melissa. “When we keep to ourselves, that’s when they suspect that we’re going to do something wrong when we’re just sitting here.” 

Sursely said MLPD is going to stay focused on the situation and continue to educate the public regarding issues associated with homelessness. From the department’s perspective and from their core values, there is no difference between the people directly affected by the closure of the sleep center and anybody else in the city.  

“They’re all our citizens, they’re all people that we serve,” said Sursely. “We always lean on the compassion piece of our core values and recognize that these are our citizens.” 

    Notice of Closure signs have been posted outside the gates of the Moses Lake Sleep Center. Moses Lake Police Department has noted no increase in the number of calls in regard to the number of unsheltered people in the community following the center’s closure.