Introduction Walk through downtown Bellingham on any morning, and you’ll see it: people huddled in doorways, sleeping in cars, or quietly pushing shopping carts piled high with their belongings. These aren’t strangers from somewhere else — they’re our neighbors. They’re the seniors who can’t afford rent after a medical bill, the families hiding in parking lots to escape domestic violence, the students trying to do homework without a stable home. In 2024, Whatcom County’s homelessness crisis has reached a point where the numbers and the human stories can no longer be separated. The data tells us the problem is solvable — but only if we act. The Numbers We Can’t Ignore At the start of this year, 684 households were in the Coordinated Entry Housing Pool — the local system for people seeking housing assistance. These are households that have gone through intake, are actively waiting for help, and, in […]
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Whatcom County’s Response to Heat and Smoke? Silence.
For over a year, I’ve been asking Whatcom County and City of Bellingham leaders a set of simple, urgent questions about how they plan to respond to extreme heat and wildfire smoke—conditions that are becoming more frequent and more deadly every summer. As the founder of Operation Water Drop, I see firsthand the people most affected by our climate emergencies: unhoused residents, elders in poorly ventilated apartments, those without transportation, and individuals with chronic illness. These are the folks most likely to die during a heatwave or suffer from long-term respiratory damage due to wildfire smoke. Despite this, there are still no clearly defined thresholds for when cooling or clean air shelters are activated in Whatcom County. No public policy. No clear plan. No communication strategy. Just volunteers scrambling in 80+ degree heat to fill the gaps. What I Asked Here are the questions I’ve asked, repeatedly, since June 2024: […]
Read MoreFollow-Up to Whatcom/Bellingham Leaders: No Response on Cooling Center Plans Ahead of Dangerous Heat
From: Tukayote Helianthus <emailme@tukayote.com>Date: Friday, July 11, 2025 at 07:26To: mayorsoffice@cob.org <mayorsoffice@cob.org>, ccmail@cob.org <ccmail@cob.org>, hestone@cob.org <hestone@cob.org>, hahuthman@cob.org <hahuthman@cob.org>, dchammill@cob.org <dchammill@cob.org>, Cotton, Jace A. <jacotton@cob.org>, ehwilliams@cob.org <ehwilliams@cob.org>, laanderson@cob.org <laanderson@cob.org>, mlilliquist@cob.org <mlilliquist@cob.org>, council@co.whatcom.wa.us <council@co.whatcom.wa.us>, CFrazey@co.whatcom.wa.us <CFrazey@co.whatcom.wa.us>, kgallowa@co.whatcom.wa.us <kgallowa@co.whatcom.wa.us>, bbuchana@co.whatcom.wa.us <bbuchana@co.whatcom.wa.us>, tdonovan@co.whatcom.wa.us <tdonovan@co.whatcom.wa.us>, tbyrd@co.whatcom.wa.us <tbyrd@co.whatcom.wa.us>, kkershne@co.whatcom.wa.us <kkershne@co.whatcom.wa.us>, belenbaa@co.whatcom.wa.us <belenbaa@co.whatcom.wa.us>, DTanksle@co.whatcom.wa.us <DTanksle@co.whatcom.wa.us>, ssidhu@co.whatcom.wa.us <ssidhu@co.whatcom.wa.us>, Jon Scanlon <jscanlon@co.whatcom.wa.us>Subject: Follow-Up: No Response on Cooling Center Plans Ahead of Dangerous Heat Dear Bellingham and Whatcom County Officials, I am following up on my previous emails dated June 2, 2024, and June 3, 2025, regarding the urgent need for cooling centers as we approach another dangerously hot week. As of today, I have not received a response to the email on June 3, 2025 nor have I seen any public announcements regarding emergency cooling center availability for next week. Forecasted highs in the mid-80s—combined with direct sun and humidity—pose serious and well-documented health risks, especially to our unhoused […]
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