The Martin Luther King Housing Development Association is getting out of the business of running a homeless shelter.

The board of directors of the nonprofit – which operates men’s and women’s overnight shelters in downtown Tacoma – voted last week to notify the City of Tacoma of its intent to leave the shelter business, a move that was foreshadowed last month by Executive Director Felix Flannigan.

Kevin Phelps, the former Tacoma city councilman and current association board member, said the organization wants to focus on its core mission of developing housing for at-risk and low-income individuals. The 117-bed shelter will remain open while officials search for another agency to take over.

The decision was not solely related to the apparent failure of a pair of grant applications, Phelps said. A citizens commission recommended not awarding a pair of federal block grants totaling $135,000, but the City Council will make the final decision.

The City Council was expected to vote tonight, but the action has been delayed until next week.

“We were very concerned that we would be perceived as our organization was holding the city hostage,” Phelps said.

“We understand the process.” He added, “At this point, we really feel the money is not going to be coming.”

The organization never received enough grant funding to operate the shelter and was forced to subsidize it with money from its other programs, Phelps said. The nonprofit also felt stung by a lawsuit from a neighboring property that contends the shelter and its users are a nuisance, he said.

“We took this on to help the community,” Phelps said. The association took over the shelter at the end of 2001 when the previous operator ran into financial trouble.

The board action did not surprise John Briehl, director of Tacoma’s Human Rights and Human Services department.

“Conversations over the last few weeks definitely pointed in that direction,” Briehl said.

Briehl said the city is talking with potential service providers in hopes of finding one willing to step in and take over running the shelter.

“We’re putting out feelers to see what the level of interest is,” Briehl said.

Phelps said the association also is talking with potentially interested parties. He said the organization is hoping for a “seamless transition” to a new agency.

City Manager Eric Anderson said the city understands the reasons why the association wants out of the shelter business, but Anderson added that there are contractual obligations preventing the nonprofit from quickly walking away. Anderson said he heard that the organization wanted out by June 30.

Anderson said the city would “look to MLKHDA to work with us” to find a new service provider, but it might not occur by the end of June.

“I think it’s going to take some time to find a provider and get them ramped up,” he said.

Jason Hagey: 253-597-8542

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