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ACAU Sleep Center

The ACAU is actively working with our Steering Committee to locate and purchase appropriate land for the Sleep Center. We are modeling after the Walla Walla Project which is pictured below.

What is a sleep center?

Based on examples from Walla Walla and Moses Lake, ACAU is working to establish an overnight “sleep center” to provide shelter space. Typically, these sleep centers are located on vacant lots with units, such as small sheds or Conestoga-style huts, which can house one to two persons depending on the situation. The site will include mobile administration and shared restroom/shower facilities as well.

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Sleep centers are a managed overnight safe sleeping space protected from the elements. One conestoga-style hut can house 1-2 people, providing privacy, safety, and dignity to people experiencing homelessness. A sleep center can provide connection to wrap around services to guests to address unmet basic needs. 

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In addition to providing a safe sleeping space protected from the elements, the goal of these facilities is to provide information and connections for “wrap around” services for guests to address their employment, behavioral health, and substance abuse issues. ACAU and its partners hope to utilize the sleep center to help transition folks experiencing homelessness to more permanent housing solutions.

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The individual units provide privacy, safety and dignity and have less risk of spreading communicable diseases (like COVID) compared to a congregate (large room) shelter design.

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What will you get from a sleep center

  • A managed site with security for the unhoused to be during operating hours

  • A site that will have rules to follow

  • A place for individuals to be while they transition into stable housing

  • With a sleep center, public camping ordinances can be enforced

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Drone footage of the unmanaged encampment near Walmart in Clarkston, WA around November 2023.

Drone footage of the Walla Walla Alliance for the Homeless Sleep Center. 

Example rules at a sleep center

  • Keep it peaceful

  • Keep it quiet 10pm to 7am

  • No weapons

  • Keep the Center drug-free.

  • Take care of your hut.

  • No smoking in huts, tents, or reception area

  • Obey fire codes: No heaters, open flames, or extension cords.

  •  Keep it sanitary. Keep food out of huts. Put trash in garbage cans.

  • Look after your pet. Don’t let it bother others and clean up poop.

  • Respect staff and follow their directions.

About Conestoga Huts

Modeled after Walla Walla Alliance for the Homesless Sleep Center. The huts are 6 feet by 10 feet inside with standing head room, and have a covered porch. The door is lockable, providing privacy as well as an important measure of safety. An operable window in the rear wall provides ventilation. The huts are completely weatherproof, even in strong winds, heavy rain or snow. They are insulated on all sides, but not heated. Once a hut is assigned to an individual (or couple), it remains theirs as long as they are on site at least five days per week.

Image of Conestoga huts from Walla Walla Alliance for the Homeless Sleep Center.

The shelter community has overflow beds which are assigned on a first-come daily basis while a person is waiting for a hut assignment.

  • Overall Dimensions: 6' X14' X 8'

  • Inside Dimensions: 6' X 10' X 6'

  • Mold-resistant

  • Insulated floor, walls, and roof

  • Can be built with wheelchair accessibility

  • Waterproof, off the ground to ensure a dry experience

  • Can be deconstructed, refurbished, and relocated

  • Can be built from recycled materials

  • Solar Power lights only, no electricity

Who can stay at the sleep center?

  • Anyone who is at least 18 years old and experiencing homelessness

    • Some residents are employed, but at jobs that do not support the high cost of housing.

    • Some have disabilities or mental illnesses that make normal employment difficult

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What about folks under 18?

  • Services for children or families will be referred to appropriate resources like:

    • Family Promise

    • Youth Resource Center

    • YWCA

How will folks get from one place to another?

  • Public Transit

  • Volunteers

  • Service Providers

  • Walking Distance

Wrap around services

A sleep center offers wrap-around services to address any need the resident may have. These include services to get people back on their feet or address any barriers preventing an individual getting housed.

Wrap around services that will be a focus of the sleep center. 

Where will the money come from?

  • Local Document Recording Fees from the County that are designated to address homelessness

  • Fundraising efforts and Donors through the Asotin County Alliance for the Unhoused

  • Grants

Average cost of a sleep center v.s. 

  • Cost of a night in jail if someone has to be trespassed: $72

  • Cost of someone staying one night at Walla Walla Sleep Center: $11.60 

Successes of Walla Walla Sleep Center

In 2022, Walla Walla: Served 183 unduplicated individuals, 117 of them stayed at least 14 nights, 19,222 total nights of care, 37 individuals were assisted into better situations. With their help: 23% of people staying at the Center have gotten their identification or Social Security cards, 17% are working part time, 26% have moved into permanent housing. Before the increase in operating hours and specialists were put onsite, only 10% of the population of the Center was engaged in support services. Now 67% of people staying there are engaged, said Craig Volwiler, vice president of the Alliance for the Homeless

Other places with similar setups

Walla Walla, Moses Lake, Hermiston, Sweet Home, OR, Ellensburg, Eugene, OR

Walla Walla worked with numerous others as well like Tri-Cities, Yakima, and Aberdeen, among others

MYTH: Build it and they will come

Walla Walla reports that most residents have strong ties to the area, either they were born and raised there or they have family there. Of the people staying at the sleep center, Walla Walla reports: 70% are from Walla Walla County, 10-15% are from adjacent counties, 15% from outside counties

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