The Snoqualmie Valley Winter Shelter for the homeless is now hiring staff, training volunteers and finalizing potential locations for the temporary shelter.

“Our goal is always to open by mid-November,” said Jennifer Kirk, director of the shelter, who is in contact with four potential host sites for the overnight shelter for the homeless.

Now in its fourth year of operation, the Sno-Valley Winter Shelter provides a safe, dry, drug-free place for homeless community members to sleep during the winter months.

The shelter is overseen by the Bellevue-based Congregations for the Homeless.

Various churches have hosted the overnight-only shelter, primarily in North Bend. As of this past winter, the shelter has also been located in Snoqualmie.

“We have built a really great relationship with the city of Snoqualmie,” said Kirk. “They really saw the good we did last season.”

In the 2014-15 season, the shelter reported providing overnight services to 94 people total, including 13 women and 4 children. Shelter attendance averaged about 15 people each night that it was open, men, women and children. About 55 percent of the guests were from North Bend, 25 percent from Snoqualmie and 8 percent were from Fall City.

Among the people served, Kirk said, were second and third generations of a family.

“We have a lot of long-term homeless out here,” she added.

The presence of the shelter could become more important, following a U.S. Department of Justice ruling that the city of Boise violated the Bill of Rights in prosecuting people for sleeping in public, although adequate facilities are not available.

Snoqualmie has no law on the books regarding camping in public places;, but North Bend has had one since early 2013.

Kirk hopes the ruling will result in North Bend repealing its law, but that is unlikely, according to city officials.

North Bend City Administrator Londi Lindell did not expect the city to repeal the law, an action that would require public hearings, plus large amounts of documentation  and a lot of staff time.

“We are actually not using that as an enforcement tool,” Lindell said.

Instead, the city has directed its police staff, the Snoqualmie Police Department, to provide assistance to the local homeless community members, as opposed to the non-local “criminal transient” population, through transportation and putting them in touch with service providers.

“We want to help the homeless,” Lindell said.

Regardless of where the Snoqualmie Valley Winter Shelter is located, members of the public will be notified through various means. North Bend requires a permit and public meetings to notify properties near the shelter site. Snoqualmie requires a permit, as well as a series of public hearings with the Hearing Examiner,.

For updates and information, visit http://www.valleyrenewalcenter.com.

The next volunteer training sessions is offered at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at North Bend Library.