Mayor Mike McGinn and city council members announced this morning a collaborative effort to turn Lake City's Fire Station 39 into a long-term homeless shelter, after the roving homeless group Nickelsville—which has been staying in the shelter for the past six months—leaves the site on Sunday.

City officials say their plan is supported by members of the Lake City community, some of whom worried about increased crime and public safety problems when Nickelsville moved into the defunct fire station last November. "Seeing Nickelsville in our neighborhood… at first it was a concern," explained Melanie Neufeld, a pastor Seattle Mennonite church. "Then [the neighborhood] experienced a wonderful change—why can’t Nickelsville stay longer?"

Nickelsville declined the city's offer to extend their stay at the fire station another six months; members are instead lobbying City Hall for a permanent outdoor homeless encampment, such as McGinn's proposed Sunny Jim site.

"The issue of a permanent homeless encampment will still be addressed in the future," said McGinn this morning. Meanwhile, the shelter "is a proven way to help those in need." The mayor's office has no time line for when the fire station shelter could be up and running, who would run it, or who it might cater to (families or women and men, for example). First, the fire station must undergo minor retrofits—window panes need to be added as well as a sprinkler system.

This morning, city officials also announced their intention to revise Seattle's consent decree—a 10-year-old ordinance that unconstitutionally restricts how and where religious institutions can host homeless encampments on their property, in essence making it harder for churches to give shelter to the homeless.

"The consent decree is past it's time," said city council member Nick Licata. In 2009, the state supreme court ruled that major parts of the ordinance were unconstitutional. Still, the ordinance remained unchanged. But Licata added that several provisions within the agreement that address camp behavior and community notification for homeless camps will remain in place. "These two issues aren't silver bullets but steps that all of us believe will go towards addressing the immediate needs of those in Seattle who should not be spending the night on our streets," Licata said.