There is no overnight shelter for single adults in Federal Way who are experiencing homelessness, except in the case of extreme weather.

FUSION has partnered with the City of Federal Way to provide this emergency shelter for the past 26 days while overnight temperatures have dropped below 32 degrees.

This shelter looks like 21 cots filling one large room in FUSION’s Pete Andersen Family Center on Pacific Highway South. In addition to these severe weather services, FUSION provides 90 emergency beds for families and a variety of holistic support services year-round, including transitional housing programs.

When cots run out, yoga mats and chairs are used for the overflow. FUSION leaders said they have not turned anyone away and kept 42 people out of the cold on their busiest night in late January.

The nonprofit has served 138 unique individuals with its severe weather shelter in the past month and have had “no significant issues to report, no law enforcement calls,” but said “in prior years we have had incidents,” said David Harrison, executive director.

When asked where they sleep when weather is not cold enough for the emergency shelter to be activated, people using the shelter told the Mirror that they sleep outside in the woods or on the properties of businesses that are closed for the night.

“It’s illegal to be homeless in Federal Way. It’s inhumane,” Ginger Manginelli told the Mirror.

Manginelli, 33, lived in Belmor Mobile Home Park in Federal Way for over 8 years, but was evicted after a roommate’s death, she said, despite being an occupant on the lease and paying half the rent there. A spokesperson for Belmor Park said Manginelli was evicted for not paying rent.

“I’ve never been homeless before,” said Manginelli, who has been homeless since Dec. 11 of this year. “You lay down, relax, then just as you fall asleep the police are right there.”

Since then, Manginelli has spent most days at the Day Center and has been nominated to move into housing, but “it’s not moving fast enough,” and “being disabled as well on top of it” doesn’t help.

Every night is a new challenge to try to find somewhere to exist, Manginelli explained.

“A lot of people…they don’t go to drugs. They’re just old people trying to survive,” she said.

Allen Crowe II is one of those people. He told the Mirror that he has been homeless for two months and is waiting for housing. It’s the first time he’s ever been homeless. He said he got into that situation after his wife left him while he was on hospice care.

He then started staying with a friend in Federal Way, but left after the friend’s son stole his identity, he said, which has made it even more challenging to access resources.

“It’s a hard time for people to have to deal with this problem. FUSION has been a big help for me,” Crowe said.

Chrissy Rauls shared that she and her boyfriend have been homeless for two years after a job loss caused them to lose their apartment in Bremerton. Rauls said she never expected to be homeless as someone who has worked her whole life.

“They don’t realize that most of us were normal people before. I worked for the county for 12 years in Mississippi, where I’m from,” Rauls said. “I was the Assistant to the Director of the IT Department.”

For a year, Rauls and her boyfriend lived in the woods in unincorporated King County. A few days before Christmas this year, “they kicked everyone out at the coldest time,” Rauls said. The shed they were living in was destroyed in the sweep, along with all their belongings.

Speaking about trying to get out of homelessness, she said it’s especially hard when “we keep losing a lot of our things,” adding that in that last sweep this winter, “we didn’t have time to get all our stuff.”

Without an ID, it is hard to get a phone, a bank account or a job, making it hard to keep up with caseworkers and appointments, she explained, adding that over time “it all spirals.”

The opportunity to stay inside during the severe cold has been a “blessing,” Rauls said.

Allen Crowe II and Ginger Manginelli are two Federal Way community members who are currently experiencing homelessness. They are two of the 138 individuals who have been provided shelter in the past 26 days at FUSION’s temporary severe weather shelter. On waiting lists for housing, they will not have anywhere to go when the weather warms. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror

The shelter

To provide this severe weather shelter, FUSION contracts with Federal Way for labor, and fundraises for food and supplies. It also depends on volunteers who show up to support.

David Harrison of FUSION shared that their guests have included “single adults, male and female and several families with infants and children.”

Harrison added that “we have been able to find stable housing for several people while they have been here, and brought in several families into the Family Center.”

The line to access shelter has often begun at 3:30 p.m., even though they don’t open the severe weather shelter until 5 p.m., Harrison said. Guests can leave and return as they please until 10 p.m., when doors shut for the night and the severe weather shelter closes at 7 a.m.

Security is on site at all times and jackets and backpacks are stored outside in totes to avoid alcohol, drugs and weapons from being brought inside.

They’ve also had a “local nurse from Healthpoint who has stopped by to give onsite medical care to those who need some assistance,” Harrison said.

Although a forecast for warmer weather this weekend means nights will be less dangerous for those without shelter, it also means that many of those who stayed there will be back to having nowhere to legally sleep. Temperatures for Friday, Feb. 14, are expected to reach a high of 42 degrees and a low of 36 degrees with a slight chance of rain and snow, according to the National Weather Service. On Feb. 15, forecasts call for a high of 43 degrees and a low of 38 degrees with rain, while Sunday’s forecast expects a high of 47 degrees with a low of 42 degrees with rain.

To find resources, the King County RHA Regional Services Database provides an overview of all services available to King County residents and providers.

FUSION serves a hot meal in the evening and in the morning at their severe weather emergency shelter that has been active since mid-January. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror