The Aurora Oaks Enhanced Shelter - A True Community Success Story

By Donna Hawkey
Photos submitted by Aurora Oaks Shelter

The Aurora Oaks Enhanced Shelter, located in the City of Shoreline, “should serve as a model for addressing homelessness. It has many assets and is a major community success,” said Interim Executive Director Sue Bennett. Lake City Partners for Ending Homelessness manages the Aurora Oaks shelter and three other programs.

Entrance

The Aurora Oaks is exceptional for its sleeping rooms, each with a door that provides safety and quiet. Private rooms for couples and the ability to welcome small dogs and cats are also notable. Couple rooms are very scarce in an already highly constrained system, so Lake City Partners prioritized this expansion to support partner stability, according to Thomas Burnside, Director of Client Services.

Double room

A typical room with a door to support healthy sleep and dignity, which every human deserves.

Over the past three years, Aurora Oaks staff has placed 250 clients in permanent housing and expanded its programs and reach. Mr. Burnside said, “Aurora Oaks has increased the number of clients we can help by approximately 15% this year, enabling us to support 33% more service partnerships than in previous years. This growth reflects both strengthened collaboration across our network and expanded capacity.”

This also puts Aurora Oaks among the highest-performers for permanent housing placement in our region!

It’s a drug-free environment that provides instruction and guidance to drive change. Change that will set a client up for success in their life going forward. It’s an expensive model, but data show how powerful it is, how cost-effective it can be for taxpayers in the long run, and that its positive impact on the community is priceless.

“The Aurora Oaks is an amazing place. A strong, holistic, collaborative approach that honors health, healing, and dignity, along with the ability to place couples, is all too rare,” Mr. Burnside said.

Green space

Green space and a welcoming entrance for all.

One of its primary successes is due to the “most dedicated, caring, success-oriented, and effective staff I’ve ever seen, who do whatever it takes to properly support a person,” according to Mr. Burnside.

Aurora Oaks staff

Here are the remarkable staff members who operate the Aurora Oaks Shelter, the Community Outreach Street Program, the GLA Day Center, and the Heron Haven Senior Women’s Center.

Mr. Burnside especially admires clients for their incredible hard work in dealing with the traumas that led to homelessness and the traumas of life on the street. The Aurora Oaks staff and its partners build trust with clients so they can envision a different future. “Collaborative, integrated partnerships with the City of Shoreline, staff, police officers, and RCR (Regional Crisis Response Agency) have been a core and valuable component of Aurora Oaks’ success.

Common area for meeting and socializing

Common area for meetings and socializing.

“We know funding is tight, but if we want to truly end homelessness in the most effective way, let’s find ways to buy more nursing homes and hotels and create more enhanced shelters like the Aurora Oaks in as many places as possible,” said Ms Bennett.

Raising money is ongoing to continue to offer a safe and healthy shelter. If you can donate, please do so. 

Current needs are:

• A security camera update to better protect everyone who calls the shelter their home.
• Lyft rides to help people get to critical medical appointments, job interviews, housing meetings, and other essential services.
• Pet crates for shelter participants’ cherished companions. The Oaks is among the few shelters that welcome small dogs and cats.

Donate here

Learn more about the Aurora Oaks shelter and Lake City Partners at this link