Good Shepherd House Grand Opening, May 29, 9:30am

May 29, 2024 9:30am

Building tours available at 9:00am

1415 22nd Ave. Seattle

The Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) is pleased to announce the Grand Opening of Good Shepherd House, a partnership between Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) and the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd. The event is on May 29 at 9:30am. Location is 1415 22nd Ave. in Seattle’s Central Area. Tours are available.

The seven-story, 86-unit building has 84 studio apartments providing permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless people, a live-in staff unit, and a three-bedroom apartment with a separate entrance to be occupied by the church.  The building features two elevators, a community room, a rooftop deck, laundry, bike parking, and case management offices. Leasing is underway with 14 units set-aside for veterans, 10 units for asylum seekers, and 15 units for people transitioning out of tiny houses.

Speaking at the event will be LIHI Executive Director Sharon Lee; Melinda Nichols, LIHI Board President; Steve Tucker, Rev. Steve Olsen, Rev. Paul Winterstein, and Rev. Nate Whittaker of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd; Rep Pramila Jayapal; Seattle City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth; Rep Frank Chopp; Maiko Winkler-Chin, Office of Housing; Alex Pace, Heritage Bank; Nathan Torgelson, SDCI; Nicole Bascomb-Green, WSHFC; and Gary Gant, HUD.

LIHI and Good Shepherd have a long history working together. The development site for this project was the location of Seattle’s first ever tiny house village which opened in 2015.

LIHI Executive Director Sharon Lee said: “In 2014 LIHI was working in partnership with Nickelsville to address unsheltered homelessness. The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd had previously hosted a tent city for Nickelsville. Working together with the church we all thought we could do better than tents and decided to try out a new concept of building a tiny house village. Pastor Steve Olsen, Trustee Steve Tucker and the congregation generously offered their vacant lot next to the church. That lot became Seattle’s first tiny house village and kicked off a program that has grown to over 20 villages that have sheltered thousands of people.  And now that very same lot has become this beautiful building that will provide permanent housing for those in need for generations to come. My heartfelt thanks go to Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd for their amazing vision and charitable spirit.”

Pastor Nate Whittaker said, "From the beginning, the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd has been dedicated to following Jesus to reach out in love to our community. Through our Pastor Steve Olsen, we began using our parsonage to help the unhoused in the community. That work grew into welcoming the tent city of Nickelsville and the Tiny Homes of LIHI. Now, through the tireless work of Steve Tucker, Sharon Lee and LIHI, and the many folks from Walsh Construction, we welcome the next step of what our God is doing in this community. We will continue to follow our Lord and serve our community with love. We have come this far by faith and cannot wait to see what the next 100 years brings all of us!"

Good Shepherd House is the first to make use of Seattle’s new Affordable Housing Ordinance on Religious Organization Land that provides development bonuses for affordable housing on property owned by religious organizations. The ordinance allowed for increased density, resulting in an increase from 65 to 86 units. LIHI has a 99-year lease on the land from the church.

Good Shepherd House received $8.3 million in capital funds from the Seattle Office of Housing. Funding from HUD and the City’s JumpStart revenue is providing operating support. Other funders include: Enterprise, Heritage Bank, State Housing Trust Fund, Washington State Housing Finance Commission, and Wyncote Foundation NW.

Contractor: Walsh Construction

Architects: Runberg Architecture Group

Thank you to Walsh Construction for sponsoring the Open House.