Commissioners Plan to Turn Jail into County Care Campus

The need for affordable housing and help for those with mental and drug abuse problems in the Yakima Valley is real and the Yakima County Commissioners say they want to help. A news release says the commissioners plan to convert the Pacific Avenue jail near State Fair Park into the Yakima County Care Campus, a multiple-use community care facility with the goal of opening a behavioral health center providing mental health and substance abuse services. A long term goal is to eventually provide affordable, transitional and or permanent supportive housing through a partnership with the Yakima Housing Authority.

They say the jail has never been fully utilized and now is the chance to do that.
Currently the jail is used for housing inmates from other areas. The plan was announced on Monday.