90-unit Tiny House Village will provide wraparound services
Mayor Katie B. Wilson continued to deliver on her core priority of accelerating the development of new shelter and emergency housing with three major steps forward today: a new lease, a new partnership, and continued legislative momentum.
“We continue to make progress on my top priority of rapidly expanding shelter with wraparound services,” said Mayor Katie B. Wilson. “I appreciate the Councilmembers, business leaders, service providers, and neighbors all across Seattle who are partnering on this citywide effort to welcome people inside.”
First, the City has executed a lease on a property in South Park which will become the site of a 90-unit Tiny House Village with wraparound services. Because of previous work to eliminate administrative barriers to accelerate shelter development, the site will be able to go through the development process and be open to bring people inside within the next few months. A community meeting will be held for neighbors in the next few weeks.
Second, Challenge Seattle has stepped up to provide $3 million in support for this work, helping us move more quickly and scale up the effort to bring people inside. This investment demonstrates the City’s ongoing partnership with the business community, and underscores the broad support for the mayor’s core priority of bringing people inside to address our homelessness crisis.
“Challenge Seattle has long advocated for stronger, more comprehensive, and coordinated public private partnerships to address chronic homelessness,” said former Governor Chris Gregoire, CEO of Challenge Seattle. “Thanks to our members—Microsoft, John Stanton and Terry Gillespie, T-Mobile, and Starbucks—for investing in Mayor Wilson’s priority to bring more people experiencing chronic homelessness indoors and connect them with innovative treatment options. We fully support the goal of ensuring public safety for all communities.”
Finally, the City Council Land Use & Sustainability committee Wednesday advanced the mayor’s legislation allowing the expansion of successful shelters which have the space and the service model to serve more people. This is the third piece of a legislative package introduced by the mayor which garnered support from business groups including the Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Seattle Association; advocates and service providers including DESC, Purpose Dignity Action, Lavender Rights Project, and UFCW 3000; and a large number of people providing public comment in multiple committee hearings.
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The mayor has announced two initial sites in her push, with more to come:
- Interbay: 75 Pallet Shelter units
- South Park: 90 Tiny Homes
The mayor’s plan is also accelerating the development of sites which had already begun the process:
- Glassyard Commons: 72 safe RV spaces + 20 Tiny Homes
- Brighton Village: 15 Tiny Homes
- Capitol Hill Village: 32 Tiny Homes