A new domestic violence emergency shelter in Yakima is expected to open next month, significantly expanding the YWCA Yakima’s capacity to provide safe housing for survivors and their families.
Rocio’s Place was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday at 910 W. Chestnut Ave. The $18 million project transformed the former St. Elizabeth Nursing School building into a 41-unit shelter with 112 beds, including a separate suite for men and their children.
The new facility will triple the YWCA’s emergency shelter capacity. Over the past five years, the organization has had to turn away more than 2,000 families seeking shelter because of limited space.
Yakima County Commissioner Kyle Curtis said the project was a priority when county leaders decided how to spend federal American Rescue Plan Act funding.
“When I first was elected as County Commissioner, we had to deploy the $49 million that the County had of the ARPA dollars,” Curtis said. “So this was a priority project. All three commissioners supported it.”
Yakima County contributed $1 million in ARPA funding toward the project. Curtis said the county has also provided operational funding to the YWCA through programs including consolidated homeless grants and behavioral health funding.
Curtis said maintaining the additional shelter capacity will be an ongoing challenge.
“I don’t have an answer to the operational side of the budget of what it’s gonna take,” Curtis said. “How do we ensure that YWCA has the resources it needs in order to maintain and keep those beds open?”
The county typically awards funding through two-year cycles, with organizations applying for available grants.
Curtis said Rocio’s Place fills a specific need because it is designed for people escaping domestic violence, rather than serving the broader homeless population.
The shelter is named after Rocio Ramos-Martinez, who died in 2021 after being attacked outside the YWCA. The existing emergency shelter has been renamed Emily’s Place in honor of Emily Harris, a Selah woman killed in a domestic violence homicide in 2020.
Curtis said shelter is only one part of addressing domestic violence in the county.
“And it kind of hurts you a little bit thinking about it, but we have to do more,” Curtis said. “And it’s not just funding shelter, but it’s also awareness and making sure that folks … have the resources they need to feel healthy and feel safe.”
Rocio’s Place is expected to begin serving clients in October as the YWCA finishes hiring and training staff.
