Many of us here today don't need to ask the tough question, where will you lay your head to sleep tonight?
But for our neighbors sleeping under tents and cardboard and bushes, that's a question of life and death they have to ask every night.
We're here today to help answer that question for dozens of our neighbors experiencing homelessness.
My name is Alex Peterson, the city council member for this district, and today we will answer with more than a message of hope.
Today we will answer with solid structures that people can count on to shelter them from the rain and from the despair in the face of homelessness.
Today is not a day for hand wringing or finger pointing.
Today is a day for results.
More than 30 new houses.
These houses may be tiny, but their impact is huge.
Houses built strong with wood and shingles and love.
Welcoming places for unsheltered neighbors to reset and renew.
Welcome to Rosie's Village.
Thank you to Sound Transit, the Low Income Housing Institute, City Hall, and the many U-District small businesses and neighbors who made it possible to open today.
It's named for the adjacent street, Roosevelt Way, Northeast, and Rosie's Village will provide residents with professional case management, 24-7 security, kitchen and hygiene facilities.
Rosie's Village will empower people to obtain jobs and healthcare, food security, and ultimately permanent housing for a brighter life.
Like all of us here today, I've seen the urgent need to do more to respond to the crisis of homelessness during the crisis of COVID.
And the university district, like many neighborhoods across Seattle, has seen a disturbing increase in visible homelessness.
As soon as this site became available here in our district, I reached out to Sound Transit to ask them, would they be willing to lease this land to the city?
Could we bring more people inside?
Sound Transit said yes.
So last year during the city's budget process, I secured the funding for construction and operations.
When the project ran into a barrier of bureaucratic hurdles, we worked together to work around, jump over these hurdles.
With Councilmember Lewis, he and I expedited the legislation to get it done.
And while one tiny home village is not going to solve the problem of homelessness, by opening Rosy's today, we can, like Teddy Roosevelt's niece Eleanor Roosevelt, light a candle rather than curse the darkness.
And this is one small bright spot to shine a beacon for other efforts that are bigger across the region.
And I want to thank everybody for being here today.
I'm going to turn it over now to the person who gets things done in the non-profit world in Seattle and beyond, Sharon Lee, Low Income Housing Institute.
Good afternoon.
Thank you, Councilmember Peterson.
The Councilmember was just terrific.
He went before city council and said, I want this village in my district.
And he got unanimous support for this.
You are amazing.
And here it is.
Here's the reality.
And he is actually correct.
It's named Rosie's Village because of Roosevelt Way.
We actually did have a little debate on the name.
We actually thought, well, you know, since there's this, like, brand-new bikeway, should we name it Bikeway Village?
And people said, what?
What?
How many bikes?
How many transit riders?
You know, we want to be green, right?
We want to be in a place that's very accessible to transit.
We can't thank Sound Transit enough, right?
We've got the station opening for us.
We've got this site, affordable housing after the village.
This is going to be affordable housing.
So we are happy.
We do not want to be the target of people who say, Gee, you know, why do you have tiny houses?
Why don't you have housing?
We are trying to build as much affordable housing as possible because that is the answer.
Affordable housing is the answer.
But in the meantime, you cannot allow 5,000 unsheltered men, women, children, frail people living on the streets, especially with winter.
That's why this village is so important.
So I think it's a race.
We have eight tiny house villages supported by the Seattle Human Services Department and it's a race as to this one or Friendship Heights on 125th and Aurora.
I think this one's going to win.
This is going to be done sooner.
I do want to say again there's 36 heat it, insulate it, tiny houses, and people can lock their door.
There's a security gate.
We love the variety.
We don't want everything looking the same.
We want to thank the tremendous volunteers, especially Sound Foundations Northwest and all the people.
All the amazing people and volunteers.
I believe we have someone, Maureen, we have you from the Rotary, the U District Rotary.
They're going to be doing welcome baskets and furnishings.
So this is a community effort.
Now, in the old days, we had tents and we had porta-potties, but definitely check out the bathrooms and there's laundry.
We do not want people wandering around the neighborhood trying to figure out how to take a shower or how to do their laundry, right?
So everything is on site.
including hot meals, and most importantly, case management.
Case management staff will be here.
Lehigh folks, I want you all to raise your hand for you've done an amazing job, whether it's construction, case management.
And this has been a volunteer, wonderful community effort.
Brad and his crew have been doing terrific work.
And we had to bring in electricity.
We had to bring in sewer.
Did we have to bring in water?
No?
Water's here.
Thank you, Sound Transit.
Water was already here.
So I want to, oh, and then the most important thing is that we have the highest rate of success of people moving into permanent housing from a tiny house village.
So even during the pandemic, From January to now, 47% of the people who exited moved into permanent housing.
An additional 6%, 7% moved into transitional housing.
So over 53, 54% moved into long-term housing, which is making a big difference.
So I wanna, talking about moving people from the street to tiny houses to permanent housing.
I want to introduce Tracy Williams.
Good afternoon.
My name is Tracy.
I'm a former resident at True Hope Village on 18th and Yesler.
Um, the way I got in there is, um, I went through Pastor Jeffrey from New Hope Baptist Church, but I was homeless and I had nowhere to go.
And my sister and I, we walked all around downtown Seattle reach program and everything, trying to find me some housing.
You know, I have never experienced being homeless.
So they told us to go to Catholic Community Service on 23rd and Yesler.
And I went there and Pastor Jeffrey, I went to his office and he took me to True Hope and I met Shelby.
And it was like a Tuesday and Shelby said that I can move in on a Friday.
I moved in at Friday.
When I moved in, I had two storage containers of clothes.
I felt safe because there's 24 hours staff.
I was able to wash my clothes.
I was able to cook.
I was able to take showers.
I was able to meet with a case manager.
My case manager went so far where she went and looked at the place where I now have permanent housing.
She was able to go there and look at the place and said, Tracy, I know that you will like this place.
I live at the Jensen block on East Lake and Mercer and I love my place.
It's a really old school type studio, but I love my place because Lehigh gave me an opportunity to get back on my feet, take care of my mental health, take care of my, I have fibromyalgia, take care of all my health, get glasses, get dental work done, everything.
So Lehigh gave me the opportunity to be able to get back on my feet.
My case manager was supportive.
I met with her two, three times a day.
I made sure that I did everything that Lehigh asked of me to do so that I can get permanent housing.
I stayed in the tiny houses for six months.
And that's when the COVID had started.
And then so Shelby from True Hope, the site property manager, told me that I should apply for a job being a village organizer because I'm a social butterfly.
So I applied.
I applied for the job.
I got interviewed by Teresa.
April of this year made one year that I've been working for Lehigh.
I'm a village organizer.
I work at Spirit on 22nd at Cherry.
And I love what I do.
And like I explained to the residents, I interact with them, that I walked in their shoes.
I've been in their shoes.
I'm no better than you.
I know how it feels to be in a situation.
I know that you'll get permanent housing.
I have permanent housing.
But being here also will make you feel safe, because you've got a key that you could call your own.
You know?
You got someone that's going to support you 24-7.
You're not going to feel alone.
You got showers, you got laundry, you got everything.
So me, being a person that stayed in the tiny houses, this program really works.
And it has helped me for the past year and a half be the person that I am today.
Because without Lehigh, I couldn't have that done it.
I would have been in my car sleeping.
But today I have my own place that I can call my own, and I can go work and support people that's in the same situation as me.
And I'm able to let them know that, hey, I got your back.
I am here to help you.
Lehigh, I want to thank you for all the support that you guys have done for me, far as placing me into permanent housing, far as placing me with employment, and far as placing me to continue doing the things that I do right now.
And I want to thank God for helping me be the person that I am today.
And thank you.
Thank you, Tracy.
That's amazing.
Thank you so much.
Yeah.
So next I want to introduce Bob Oliver.
Barb.
Barb never stops.
Her factory, I shouldn't say factory, but she is just cranking out these tiny houses.
You would not believe it.
She is a powerhouse.
Barb.
Thank you, Sharon.
So I'm Barb Oliver.
I'm the director of operations for Sound Foundations Northwest, otherwise known as the head cat herder.
And in the first 18 months of Sound Foundations Northwest, we built 42 tiny homes.
This year we will build, we are now building our 81st home.
We will build a little over 100 homes this year, and next year we will double that amount.
The reason for that is that we are the only tiny home builder that works with Lehigh that builds on a jig system and builds assembly line style.
And when COVID hit, we started talking with Brad and Josh and Sharon about how we can build quality homes faster.
And I'm so proud, I obviously left the Hope Factory this morning, and I left 16 very dedicated volunteers that you should watch them work.
They are so good.
They make me proud every single day.
We have the best volunteers.
So, the problem with homelessness is not a lack of a home.
the problem of homelessness is a lack of community and what these tiny home villages do is they provide the community because it's transition from being on the ground into a tiny home into a permanent housing but it's also a transition in the head and the heart from going from being scared to being safe to being well, and that's what we're all about.
And on behalf of Sound Foundations Northwest, let me just say this.
We, every single one of us that build these homes, promise every single one of you that if there is one person left that is homeless, that is cold and out on the streets, we will continue to build the homes.
Thanks.
Thank you, Barb.
That was incredible.
As you know, we are soon to open a tiny house village in Bellingham with the city mayor of Bellingham.
And I want you to know, because of Lehigh, because of Seattle being so outstanding, there are tiny house villages opening in Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, LA, Nashville, Denver.
What did I miss?
Arkansas.
Oh, Venice and North Hollywood.
There are more than 200 tiny house villages throughout the country because this is a proven model and the data shows it.
Some people want to ignore the data, but you look at the data, you will see that we are much more successful than a mat on the ground.
or a enhanced shelter or a congregate shelter which is not COVID safe.
So we are very pleased that the tiny houses work before the pandemic and during the pandemic.
So I want to introduce Teresa Barker if you can come up and speak and say a few words.
Thanks, Sharon.
I had your back there.
My name is Teresa Barker.
Some of you know me.
I'm an organizer of a community group in the Ravenna Park area of 200 or so neighbors on all sides of Ravenna and Cowan Park.
We've spent four and a half years working with the city to address homelessness, especially in parks, but everywhere in our community.
This isn't my profession.
I'm actually an engineer, a mathematician, and a science fiction writer, but I felt called to this because it was really an important problem.
I just wanted to mention a couple things we've learned.
And what have we learned?
We've learned that homelessness, those who are homeless have a huge variety of needs, but mostly stability and care gets them started on their journey to safety and to a better life.
No one wants to be homeless.
That was something we didn't actually know at the beginning, I'll say.
It's important to work together.
Multiple voices is our strength, and to be consistent in our advocacy.
It's a complicated problem, but we've learned it's not a hopeless one.
Working together, citizens can make a difference, and you couldn't have told me that when I started this.
It was quite astonishing, especially by focusing on understanding the problem and on being part of the solution.
That said, we are in the midst of a huge civic crisis.
The unmet needs of those who are homeless and those who are nearly homeless.
I'll just say the unintended destructive impacts on parks and green spaces and the inadvertent public safety crisis.
We are a city better than this.
Tiny house villages and supportive housing and services are proven methods of addressing this crisis of homelessness.
Along with outreach specialists like David Delgado who's here today, just give you a shout out wherever you are.
They get to know the community and what their needs are and go that extra mile to serve the community of homeless people.
We are excited about the potential to move forward and to eradicate homelessness in our city sustainably and compassionately.
Thanks for listening.
I want to introduce a very special person who has built affordable housing all across the state of Washington.
He's the guardian angel, the godfather, the go-getter for affordable housing.
And you go to any neighborhood in Seattle around, he's probably helped to finance it through the state government, being a leader of our state for so long.
So it's a real pleasure to introduce Frank Chopp, Representative Frank Chopp.
Thanks, Alex.
Godfather?
Oh jeez, I'm going to have to answer for that, I think.
But really, this place is a success in large part due to Alex Peterson.
Let's hear it for Alex!
I am here to mainly to thank people and to also point the way that there's hope on the way and that we're making enormous progress in terms of dealing with homelessness, despite what all the press talks about.
In fact, I want to not only thank Alex, but Sharon Lee is a force of nature.
And she and I started Wonka Mountains Institute about a few years ago.
And since then, the progress that she's done at all kinds of housing, at all different sites, is just spectacular.
And at Lehigh and all the staff here, they've done tremendous work in a very smart way, but also heartfelt.
And I just want to thank everybody at Lehigh for doing their work.
I just want to say that this brings back some memories from my own personal life.
When I was a student at UW, as a way of protesting demolition of long-term housing in downtown Seattle, I rented a parking stall in South Lake Union.
And with my dad, built a geodesic dome, 11 feet wide, and lived in it with the electrical cord going over the church next door.
It was cheap.
The rent was $10 a month.
Things have changed in South Lake Union.
But I also want to say that these things look a lot better than the jadesic dome I built with my dad.
These are great.
They're functional but also good looking and that's important when you're talking about working with the community.
So I just it's an extremely important step forward.
And also as part of that effort in that parking lot right afterwards a few years later that parking lot got turned into low-income housing for about 35 units for homeless women and kids right downtown there.
So that's what's going to happen here.
We've got a tiny home village for some time, and then we're going to build permanent housing going up many floors here, which brings me to thanking Sound Transit.
Sound Transit, you want to raise your hand?
All good.
When we passed the state law saying that this is the right thing to do to combine two basics, you know, transportation and housing together, the first response I got was, but now it's a great success.
Normally this site will be developed for housing.
Go up to Roosevelt, we've got 270 units of housing with an early learning center right above the light rail station.
It's perfect.
Let's hear it for Sound Transit.
This notion of using public lands for public purposes is one part of a 12-point agenda that we developed through our Home and Hope program.
And guess what?
We accomplished all 12 things.
So we got a new five-point agenda.
In the agenda that we just passed was a 110 sales tax available to counties throughout the state to bond against and to acquire housing.
So these units that are being bought up by King County was based on the work that all of you did to of the groundwork for the state to basically mandate the counties to do this.
As a result, 2,000 units of housing are coming online right now.
That'll make a major difference.
And it was due to the advocacy of people like Sharon Lee and others to do that.
So we really have momentum.
despite all the political controversy of this or that kind of thing.
And I also want to say, hey, what's next?
Two things at the state level.
We're pushing the governor hard for $400 million of new funding to buy up more housing for folks who are homeless, who are chronically homeless.
And we're following that up with a proposal for a prescription for a home.
Because if you ask people, why are people chronically homeless?
In many, many cases, it's because of their health care concerns.
They have a mental illness or a substance use disorder, or they're physically disabled to the point that they can't work.
So I'm proposing, we're proposing, we expand the state Apple Health program to include a home, that you can get a prescription for a home as an entitlement, which is absolutely important because everybody talks about the human right of having a home.
Well, damn it, we ought to start doing that.
And we're going to start in the state of Washington.
Thanks very much.
We've talked a lot about Sound Transit, and we're going to hear from them in a moment.
I really want to give a special shout out to Abel Pacheco, who was the council member for this area.
And so it's not a coincidence that he was the first person I called, and he understood instantly the opportunity that was here.
And even though a tiny home village was not something that was part of their mission, they realized that this is an opportunity during this crisis where they could they could step up and do something.
And Peter Rogoff stepped up.
Everybody from Sound Transit did.
So we're going to hear from Kimberly Farley from Sound Transit now.
Thank you.
So thank you Councilmember Peterson.
I am Kimberly Farley, Deputy CEO of Sound Transit.
I also would like to take a moment to thank Mayor Durkin and Councilmember Juarez.
As Sound Transit board members, their leadership really pushed us forward and really helped shepherd us through this urgent lease agreement between City of Seattle and Sound Transit.
So I just wanted to give them a little shout out.
They're very helpful.
Providing the city with 18,000 square feet of land near one of Sound Transit's brand new, beautiful stations is one way Sound Transit can partner with the community that we serve.
As a regional agency, Sound Transit is committed to playing its part to address the needs of people experiencing homelessness.
And I gotta tell you, there's some gems in this space here.
Beautiful, beautiful structures.
Really gorgeous.
Our equitable TOD program, which was alluded to by Mr. Chopp, also includes projects such as the 270 units of new affordable housing.
It's adjacent to the brand new, beautiful Roosevelt Station.
And these sorts of investments are key to making our transit expansion successful for everybody.
So I'd like to conclude by also thanking Sound Transit and City of Seattle staff for their work on this temporary lease agreement.
This agreement provided the property to the city at no cost and that allowed the city to move forward in partnership with Lehigh on this really high priority project.
So thank you again Councilmember Peterson for partnering with us and making this come together and allowing me to participate in the opening of this wonderful project.
Thank you.
So next we're going to hear from a very important organization to the University District.
It's a combination of small businesses, the University of Washington, community leaders.
It's called the University District Partnership.
They are the program manager for the business improvement area.
And so if you have to make one call in the University District, you probably want to call Don Blankeney who's the head of the University District Partnership and he has tremendous experience throughout the city of Seattle in terms of leading neighborhood and small business organizations so he's a real advocate for the University District and making it a vibrant community and you know when asked about this again it was people he was excited about it there was an opportunity here right near the the Sound Transit station and knowing that there's going to be permanent affordable housing here is a big win for the neighborhood.
So let me introduce you to Don Blankening.
Thank you Councilmember Juderson and I want to take a chance to thank the City and Sound Transit in Lehigh for making this possible here today.
I'm Don Blakely with the U District Partnership and we are the non-profit that looks after the neighborhood.
We represent a lot of different interests but the unhoused community here needs our help too and we invest heavily in outdoor outreach to folks in our community who are unhoused, and what we hear constantly is that folks are eager to come inside, but the capacity issues are too great for us to make significant progress.
This is progress here today.
This is capacity.
It's great.
We support it, and we look forward to seeing this come to fruition.
You know, we also are growing really fast as a community, so it raises a lot of questions.
We are probably the number one contributor to the MHA program, and so we're really excited that this site bring some of those dollars back into the neighborhood and build permanent affordable housing so we're excited about that.
In the meantime we just welcome our new neighbors and some maybe existing neighbors so thank you for doing this and we look forward to them being a part of our community.
Well we did invite the the media here if they wanted to ask questions and I'll probably turn them all over to Sharon Lee but Are there any questions, any Q&A?
I know we're going to also give a tour or let folks walk around from the media and take footage of the inside of these beautifully built homes.
So, Sharon, is that something you want to address?
When people actually move in?
Mid-October.
All right, hey.
Well, feel free to ask questions while you're walking around.
Sharon, we also want to thank Josh Castle from Lehigh.
Is George still here?
George?
George waved everybody.
So please just.
Yeah, there will be there will be at least three more.
There will be at least three more.
In fact, the City Council is going to be discussing the mayor's budget proposal, which he provided just yesterday.
So thank you.
All right.
Thanks.