Federal Lawsuit Filed Over Homeless Shelter

Yakima's cold-weather shelters close at the end of the month and some Yakima business owners are wondering if a gathering of homeless people on East Yakima Avenue will move to another area of the city if the former bus depot at 201 S. Sixth St. isn't used as a pickup point for homeless to get rides to the shelter.

But meantime, legal wrangling between the owners of the old depot, Yakima Neighborhood Health Services, and the city of Yakima continues.

The two sides are in a land-use dispute, which is the subject of a March 25 hearing in Yakima County Superior Court. Yakima Neighborhood Health wants to open a homeless shelter at the old Roy's Market in a residential area, and the organization is suing the city, claiming the City Council discriminated against the homeless by denying the plan in 2015.

Though the suit was originally filed in Superior Court, the Yakima Herald-Republic reports that the suit has been moved to U.S. District Court based on allegations the city violated federal fair-housing laws.