King County Funds
Two Tiny House Villages in Tukwila
Photo from recent visit to Progressive Skyway Village by Tukwila Mayor Allan Ekberg, Tukwila City Councilmembers Delostrinos Johnson & Hougharty, Tukwila Deputy Fire Chief Norm Golden, village resident Denisha, Pastor Jenkins, Pastor Bolerjack, Benton Coblenz of Tukwila Food Pantry, Paul Coblenz of Seatac-Tukwila Rotary Club, Levi Berger, and other Tukwila leaders.
LIHI is thrilled to announce that the King County Department of Community and Human Services last week awarded a $2.3 million contract to fund two Tiny House Villages in Tukwila: a village at Miracle Temple Church of God in Christ and a village at Riverton Park United Methodist Church.

The villages will include 30 and 20 tiny houses respectively for a total of 50 tiny houses serving up to 80 individuals, couples, families, and people with pets currently living outside in Tukwila to help them obtain housing, employment, health care, and other services. This is following the overwhelming vote (6-1) by Tukwila City Council on March 28 to approve the siting of both villages in Tukwila. 

Thank you to King County DCHS for for approving LIHI's proposal and to the Tukwila City Councilmembers both for voting in support and for their compelling personal testimony about their own lived experiences or those of loved ones. 

Pastor Henry Jenkins of Miracle Temple: "We give thanks to God for the Tukwila City Council Members who voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Tukwila site for Tiny House Villages. We at the Miracle Temple are thrilled that the program will be held on our property and believe that God has touched their hearts. Psalms 118:23 - 'This is the Lords doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.'"

Pastor Jan Bolerjack of Riverton Park UMC: "Dry, warm, and secure. My tent residents and car campers are sooooo excited. I'm not sure they believe it will really happen but I'm going to be filming it when they cross their new thresholds."

Benton Colbentz of Tukwila Food Pantry: "We could not be more excited. Over the course of this pandemic, the people this funding will house have demonstrated themselves to be integral members of our community. At Tukwila Pantry, we know what housing can do to impact the lives of people in our community, and we couldn’t be more overjoyed to know that this funding will come to Tukwila and to Riverton Park United Methodist Church."

We are grateful to Pastor Henry Jenkins of Miracle Temple and Pastor Jan Bolerjack of Riverton Park UMC, and their teams, for their early outreach to us and willingness to host a village on their property, and their passion to help unhoused families and neighbors in their community. Big thanks as well goes to Benton Coblentz, Board Chair of the Tukwila Food Pantry, which is located at Riverton Park UMC and serves hundreds of Tukwila neighbors in need; Levi Berger who has provided tremendous help with site design and input; Paul Coblentz of Seatac-Tukwila Rotary Club, and so many others. 
Southend Village Ready to Go
Construction of LIHI's Southend Tiny House Village at 9101 MLK Way S., Seattle is complete. LIHI is still working out the funding for village operations. An open house will be held in early May.

We'd like to share with you excerpts from articles and letters written by former Seattle Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat, and Sound Foundations NW Director Barb Oliver.

Sally Bagshaw:

"This past Friday, I received an email from a business group in Rainier Valley, fed up with tents and garbage in their neighborhood. The group says they have seen no coordinated effort to offer people a better option than life in tents on the streets
....
Yet, in the midst of all this inaction, there’s a partial solution. It’s an unoccupied 40-unit tiny home village in the south end on Martin Luther King Way, right across from the Rainier Beach Light Rail station. It’s all dressed up and ready to serve, but it has not been opened. 

Available temporary housing? Yes. In South Seattle, where the need is great? Yes. An entirely empty village ready to go? Yes. But it is vacant. Why?
...
Mayor Harrell? KCRHA director Marc Dones? You hold the keys. Open up those doors!"



Danny Westneat:

"What happened is that the Low Income Housing Institute built the village because the city had at one time pledged to fund it, and the City Council was supportive. But then control switched from the city to the new Regional Homelessness Authority. Last month, that group denied operating funding to the project.

It did this though construction was nearly finished at the time."



Barb Oliver:

"It is now 5:30 am. I have been up since 3 am thinking about this.

The Southend Village of transitional tiny homes has been ready for residents since early April. The only thing that is stopping residents from living in the village is having KCRHA fund the village.

Let’s look at how that village came to be. First, supporters raised all the money needed to build these tiny homes. Volunteers from Sound Foundations NW came together: hundreds of us for hundreds of hours, lovingly building walls, tilting up homes, laying floors and roof, and painting and caulking each and every home.   

These tiny homes now lay barren, empty, while people who but for the grace of God go us lay in doorways, on park benches, in the rain and cold, surrounded by garbage, feces and rats. They are unsafe 24/7. They are scared every day. They are hungry every day. They are wet and cold most of the time.

Statistically, nationwide the transition from homelessness to permanent housing is less than 20%. The rate from shelters to permanent housing is a mere 4%.  The transition rate for LIHI’s tiny home transitional villages is 56%, over double the national average. The LIHI model is one of the most successful in the nation. 

Every day that Southend Village is closed, 40 people are still on the streets. If you look at this long term, according to LIHI’s statistics, the average number of days spent in a tiny home is 114 days. That means that three people transition in and out of each tiny home every year. The longer we delay opening the village, the less likely that three people transition in and out of every home. If we delay long enough, that means maybe two people transition instead of three. That means that not only 40 people are still on the streets: actually, it’s more like 80 people.

Isn’t homeless relief about helping people? Actual people?

It’s still raining outside.

Barb"

More coverage:
Tiny house at Southend Village
The tiny houses are furnished
and ready for residents to move in
Community space
Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier highlights LIHI partnership during
State of the County address
Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier gave his State of the County speech on April 20 and highlighted the regional cooperation of Pierce County, City of Tacoma and City of Lakewood in helping LIHI purchase Aspen Court (former Comfort Inn) as an enhanced shelter for 100 unhoused individuals. The State Department of Commerce also contributed acquisition funds as part of their Rapid Capital Housing Acquisition program.
GiveBIG Early Giving Continues
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GiveBIG early giving continues. Thanks to the generosity of the John & Shari Behnke Family your gift will be matched, up to $75,000 total for the duration of GiveBIG, from now until May 4th.


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Tiny House Villages
Tiny Houses serve populations that are not served well by traditional shelter options, including families, couples, and people with pets. Tiny houses are preferred and accepted as shelter by many people who refuse space in other shelters. Why? Because in a tiny house village you get a house to yourself with a lockable door. You get privacy and your possessions are safe. A high percentage are able to obtain longterm housing from a tiny house.
Simple Dignity!
Urban Rest Stops
Urban Rest Stops give homeless people a chance to refresh. You may take for granted being able to take a shower, do your laundry, and go to the bathroom. Many homeless people don't have this option. LIHI's Urban Rest Stops help our region's homeless get the personal hygiene services that they need in a pleasant, diginified setting.

Sharon Lee
Executive Director