We want to comment on the proposal to place a large homeless facility on the five-acre parcel at 1231 Sheridan Road. Currently, Bremerton Housing Authority (the federally and locally funded public corporation that provides affordable housing in the area) has requested a zoning amendment on the property to allow for a 30 pallet shelter on 1 acre and for a temporary encampment for 3 years plus the option to continue. Their plan is to then develop the entire 5 acres if zoning is changed. This has created fundamental tensions in Bremerton regarding the urgent need for shelter versus the legitimate concerns of residents who live, work, and raise children nearby. The Sheridan Community Alliance, an ad hoc citizen group, has raised clear objections centering on the impact a high concentration of homeless would create especially when considering the proximity to schools and homes plus being located next to a very busy pedestrian and retail intersection. Those concerns deserve serious weight, especially when considering the input of law enforcement officers regarding the demographics of the people most likely to use such a facility.
Despite what advocates for the Sheridan property promote about being for homeless mothers and children, however, the government’s own reporting consistently show that the majority of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Kitsap County are single adults, not families. Nationally and locally, single adult males form the largest share of the street and vehicle population. A significant portion of this group reports serious mental health conditions, chronic substance abuse, or both. These are not peripheral details. They shape the daily realities that police, fire, and emergency medical responders already confront in areas where unsheltered people concentrate.
Bremerton Police and Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office experience has repeatedly shown that high concentrations of people with untreated mental illness and active drug use generate elevated calls for service. Open drug activity, disorderly conduct, theft, and interpersonal violence become more frequent. Officers have described certain corridors and facilities as recurring centers of aggravated assaults and narcotics activity. When large numbers of single adults with these challenges are brought together in one location—particularly without sufficient on-site treatment capacity, secure staffing, and clear behavioral expectations—the demand on law enforcement rises. Neighborhoods nearby absorb the spillover: more 911 calls, more property crimes, more transient foot traffic, more discarded paraphernalia, and greater strain on limited police resources.
Because the Sheridan site sits near residential streets, elementary school campuses, and a high-traffic intersection, residents have reasonably asked why the issues that come with a facility serving a population with elevated rates of mental health and substance-use issues should fall so heavily on one section of the city. Proximity to schools amplifies those worries. Even with planned security and services, the daily movement of people in and out of a large site creates predictable friction with surrounding homes and school activity. More importantly, these sites do not provide any background checks or evaluations of the users of the facilities. Pedophiles, hardened criminals, drug distributors, and people with dangerous mental issues would all have access to the facility, and no checks would be done. Law enforcement cannot simply “manage away” the behavioral challenges that accompany untreated addiction and serious mental illness; they respond after the fact, often repeatedly.
Members of the Sheridan Community Alliance stated that a similar facility had previously been proposed by the city and the mayor of Bremerton in the Oyster Bay area in 2024 on property that was owned by the city. However, the proposal was abandoned after several city council members, including the current architect of the Sheridon proposal, were able kill the project because their own properties were located near the site. Alliance members state that if the city council members did not want a facility near them, then the Sheridan community should be afforded the same consideration. Most concerning to them was the total lack of public discourse or even notice regarding the proposed development. They formed the alliance simply because they felt that government agencies were moving ahead with the project and not properly disclosing the issues to their community. The lack of transparency and openness from government agencies forced the creation of a citizen group to create awareness and public input.
Supporters of the project correctly note that Bremerton needs more shelter capacity and that unmanaged street camping carries its own public-safety costs. That is true. Yet placing a sizable facility in a residential area without first demonstrating robust, sustained treatment capacity, clear accountability measures, and genuine neighborhood mitigation risks creating the same patterns already seen around existing service sites. These facilities will contain individuals actively seeking stability and those who refuse treatment and will continue ongoing substance use and untreated mental conditions. A large low-barrier or semi-low-barrier facility will inevitably be used by both groups. Without strong clinical and security infrastructure, the latter group can quickly dominate the environment and the surrounding streets. This not only creates a threat to the local community but to those same mothers and children that the proponents say they want to protect.
The Sheridan Community Alliance is not arguing against helping people in crisis. It is arguing that location, scale, and population characteristics matter. Concentrating a population that is predominantly single adult males with high rates of mental health and drug challenges next to homes and schools is a public-safety decision as much as a housing decision. The project’s advocates and government leaders have treated the Alliance’s concerns as being just about their home values, rather than a legitimate opposition to the issues that the facility would create. As one official told the group, “We have the plan. We have the land. We have the shovel in hand.” Thus, indicating that they were going to move forward regardless of local concerns. Any facility at the Sheridan Road site must be evaluated first on whether it can protect both the people it houses and the neighborhood that will live with its daily impacts. Public safety cannot be an afterthought nor should the voices of those that will be impacted the most be silenced or bypassed.
The Alliance states that they have alternative sites that they feel would be a better fit for this community. They state that any site located in the city limits would create issues for the families and businesses located nearby. Instead, they propose the matter should be addressed at the county level and located on sites that will still allow the necessary access that homeless residents would need but provide more security and safety to citizens and businesses.
The group is requesting citizen participation at the Bremerton City Council meeting being held on August 19th at 5:30pm and at the Planning Commission Meetings that will be held on August 17th at 5:30pm. Contact sheridancommalliance@gmail.com for more information regarding the meetings or how local residents can get involved. Even if you do not live in the Sheridan neighborhood, you want to ensure that elected officials are properly responding to public input. A small group can be ignored, a large group showing up creates a different predicament that officials must consider.
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