By DAN RICHMAN

drichman@whidbeynewsgroup.com

Whidbey Island’s homeless by year-end will have a single place to come in order to find housing, thanks in part to a $24,000 planning grant approved Tuesday by the  Island County Commissioners.

The Community Development Block Grant will help plan expanding the county Department of Human Services’ coordinated-entry program, said Catherine Reid, the department’s housing program coordinator, on Friday.

“The problem has been pretty significant, with those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness wandering from church to church or from agency to agency,” Reid said.

“This grant fills a gap toward paying for a staffer who’s helping provide a single place for folks to come.”

The entry point into the homelessness system will be an office in Coupeville. The exact location has not been finalized.

Having the entry point in Coupeville means easier access for those just leaving the nearly hospital or jail, Reid said.

It will remain open less than 24 hours a day, because the department lacks sufficient staffing for that, she said.

Those living far from Coupeville can use planned phone or online access to the entry point, and a remote check-in location is planned for the south end, Reid said.

The Coupeville location will be easily accessible by public transportation, she said.

Once the state’s Commerce Department signs off on the grant, the Island County Department of Human Services “can start billing against it,” Reid said.