Reverend Lawrence Willis of Truevine of Holiness Missionary Baptist Church opens the celebration. “The Truevine Church is committed to supporting our new neighbors who will soon be moving into Southend Village. We see it as part of our mission to help alleviate this humanitarian crisis of people living without shelter.”
On May 5th, LIHI, supporters, and the Rainier Beach community joined together to celebrate the opening of Southend Village located at 9101 Martin Luther King Jr Way S., Seattle.
Thanks to a last minute $250,000 grant from the Lucky Seven Foundation to LIHI, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority agreed to fund an additional $500,000 in operating costs for this year enabling the village to open. Southend Village is sponsored by Truevine of Holiness Missionary Baptist Church (Truevine) on private land. The Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) will operate the village in partnership with Truevine. Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) will provide wrap-around case management and behavioral health services.
Southend will serve up to 60 homeless people at a time. The first program participants will move in next week.
The village has 40 tiny houses with insulation, heat, and a locking door for families, couples, individuals and people with pets locally experiencing homelessness. Each house is 8’ x 12’ and is fully furnished. The village has 24/7 staffing and includes bathrooms, showers, laundry, kitchen, community gathering spaces, and case manager and security offices. A cedar fence surrounds the village keeping people safe with one entrance and an emergency exit.
Refugee Women's Alliance case managers are on-site to help program participants obtain permanent housing, employment, health care, getting IDs, and other services. Case managers have a direct pipeline to over 3,000 units of LIHI permanent housing including many units in South Seattle.
Thank you to the donors who paid for the materials to build the tiny houses at Southend Village: Volunteers from AWS, 83rd & 84th Street Cares, Eva & Friends, Lake Forest Park Rotary Club, Mercer Island Rotary Club, One Eighty Foundation, Leisure Care, Sally Bagshaw & Friends, University Sunrise Rotary Club, Students of Risdon Middle School, Clara Bachelder, The Hill Team, Target, Rotary District 5030, Members of the Mercer Island Tennis Club, The John and Shari Behnke Family, James Tjoa & Associates at RE/MAX, Walsh Construction, Wyncote Foundation NW, Umpqua Bank, and Lucky Seven Foundation.
Thank you as well to Sound Foundations NW and the many volunteers who built the tiny houses: Volunteers from AWS, Sno-Isle Tech Skills Center, 83rd & 84th Street Cares, PACT Program, YouthBuild – YouthCare, and Interlake High School.
News Coverage:
Comments