Two Tukwila churches 
to host tiny house villages
LIHI is excited to work with two churches in Tukwila that have each generously offered their property to host a tiny house village for people experiencing homelessness in Tukwila: Riverton Park United Methodist Church, led by Rev. Jan Bolerjack and Miracle Temple Church of God in Christ, led by Rev. Henry Jenkins.

Both churches, along with the opening of Southend Village, were featured recently on KOMO News: More churches step up, offer to sponsor Tiny House Villages to help homeless

Riverton Park UMC has hosted tents on their property for several years for unhoused neighbors in Tukwila. LIHI will replace these 20 tents with 20 heated, insulated tiny houses to help folks get out of the rain and cold, gain more privacy, and have a locking door to secure possessions. Miracle Temple will host 30 tiny houses on their property. Both sites will have LIHI operational staff and onsite case management to help residents transition into permanent housing, seek employment, health care, and other services. 

Our partners at Sound Foundations NW recently featured this profile of Riverton Park UMC that we'd like to share with our readers. Sound Foundations NW, working with LIHI and scores of volunteers, are currently building tiny homes for both villages, which are scheduled to open in late Summer.
Tent encampament at Riverton Park United Methodist
Church that will be replaced a tiny home village
Riverton Park UMC is also in charge of the Tukwila Food Pantry The city of Tukwila has a large, marginalized community, and this is one of the few sources of food that some residents have. Before Covid, they were serving around 200 per day. Now they serve around 1000 daily.
The Tukwila community has been so generous to the Tukwila Pantry that it has grown exponentially. They now use two thirds of the sanctuary of the church just to provide space for clothing and household items for the community. They have acquired so many donations that they are actually storing extra goods inside a nearby fire station!
For the past six years, volunteers have prepared the food and filled the boxes for others. Then, in the evening, they would go home to their tent encampment in the parking lot of this church. Now, these same great hearts can soon put the key in a lock and open the door to their tiny home and finally be warm, safe, and dry. 
Here’s a note from Pastor Jan: “We are so excited to get to work with Sound Foundations NW and LIHI to get tiny homes set up for our residents. They have survived the winter in cold, wet tents but are looking forward to sleeping warm and dry, off the ground, and behind doors that lock. It will be such a blessing to so many valuable Tukwila citizens.”
Bainbridge High students build tiny houses
Thank you to Bainbridge High students in the CTE, Skilled & Technical Sciences program who are building two tiny houses this semester that when completed will be moved to an upcoming LIHI tiny house village. The students are learning important career and life skills while helping their community.
Housing for All!
Sharon Lee
Executive Director