The first residents are about a week away from moving into the new Sand Point Cottages in Magnuson Park. The Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) said this first-of-its-kind permanent housing could be the blueprint to help solve homelessness in King County.
LIHI on Tuesday hosted a ribbon cutting and tour of the 22 cottages designed to help move families and individuals out of homelessness.
“Compared to the tiny home villages, this is permanent housing, and the units are quite a bit larger,” LIHI Community Engagement Director Josh Castle explained.
Residents will pay rent of just over $900 a month for these fully furnished cottages that include a bedroom, living room, kitchen, bath, loft, and porch.
“It has 24/7 staff and case management helping residents with getting access to employment, healthcare, education, child care,” Castle added.
But one woman playing with her kids at a nearby park believes this community will not help people with drug problems, but enable that use.
“I’m actually a property manager, and from my experience when you put someone in housing just so they could say they have a home, they usually continue doing the things they do, and then they end up being evicted and out on the street again,” Breanne Shiplett stated.
Residents will have to follow rules like no drugs in community spaces, but staff won't check their homes, and they have to participate in case management. The code of conduct is similar to the one at LIHI's more than 700 tiny houses, officials said.
“We think this is going to be hugely successful and be a blueprint for success going forward,” Castle added. “There are tens of thousands of people who are homeless in King County, and we need much more permanent housing, we need many more tiny house villages to help folks on the path to permanent housing, and we need many more cottage communities like this.”
The $5 million project was funded by the Washington State Housing Trust and the city is leasing the land for $1 per year, LIHI stated. Not all 22 units are leased out, and LIHI did not have an estimated number of how many vacancies remaining.
LIHI operates 3,400 affordable housing units, including new cottages,18 tiny home villages, and two urban rest-stop hygiene centers.