This winter, LCSNW is again hosting warm space on cold nights in Bellingham

by | Feb 11, 2026 | Housing Services

Follow Marc, our Community Engagement Manager, on a 1-minute tour of the shelter: https://youtu.be/UIKjHLi1kjA

For the second consecutive winter, LCSNW is providing space and operational support for the Bellingham Severe Weather Shelter. The former Central Lutheran Church property, acquired by LCSNW two years ago, has become a potentially life-saving beacon of hope for people experiencing homelessness on nights when the temperature dips to 32 degrees or colder.

The Severe Weather Shelter had recorded several noteworthy numbers as of Feb. 12th, with several weeks of unpredictable northern Washington winter still to come:

  • 13 nights open through Feb. 12th

  • 710 individual bed nights for guests

  • 64 guests receiving wound or medical care

  • Over 1,400 meals served

The weather has generally been warmer in early February this year, though the shelter was open the nights of Feb. 10th and 11th and is now set to be open the nights of Feb. 14-18. There’s also a Bellingham Day Shelter (on a different site, not affiliated with LCSNW) that is open on days when temperatures are projected to reach freezing. Whatcom County officials announce shelter openings several days in advance, based on weather forecasts, on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WhatcomCountyHealth/

Marc Hander is LCSNW’s Community Engagement Manager at the Bellingham site. Marc’s duties include attending the Whatcom County shelter leadership and staff meetings, supporting staff, engaging in community meetings, and monitoring neighbor relations. He also worked two shifts at the shelter during a stretch of sub-freezing nights in January.

“My experience and learning last year give me a ‘seasoned’ status, and I’m able to support staff with confidence,” Marc said.

The LCSNW space can hold approximately 60 guests each night, all adults; the county offers accommodations for youth and families at a different location. Guests are allowed to bring their service, emotional support or therapy animals.

In addition to providing emergency shelter space under a contract with Whatcom County, the Bellingham property serves as the northernmost outpost of LCSNW’s Santa for Seniors program. In the next few years, Compass Housing Alliance plans to begin developing 200 affordable housing units there.

For now, LCSNW is pleased to offer health, justice, and hope in a unique way: by helping to shelter some of the region’s most vulnerable people during the harshest season of the year.

Husband and wife stand facing the Giving Machine vending machines