Tag Archives: homelessness

Belmont Tiny House Village breaks ground with plans for 32 new Capitol Hill homes by July

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The start of work at the new Tiny House Village site (Images courtesy AJ Dent)

The Belmont Tiny House Village will open to residents by July.

The Low Income Housing Institute’s $1.1 million, 32-tiny house “emergency transitional encampment” broke ground last week with trucks arriving to deliver the 96-square-foot homes to the empty lot in the 1700 block of Belmont Ave.

The property will eventually be redeveloped as a new supportive housing facility from Downtown Emergency Service Center.

“LIHI is thrilled to announce that we have broken ground on the future Belmont Tiny House Village (formerly known as Cap Hill Village)!,” the Low Income Housing Institute said in its groundbreaking announcement.

“Located at 1737 Belmont Ave, this village will be in the heart of the vibrant Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle,” the announcement reads.

As CHS previously reported, the village will feature 32 tiny houses, 24/7 staffing, a security pavilion, staff and case management offices, a community kitchen, plus hygiene and laundry facilities.

Common facilities and six of the tiny houses will be accessible, LIHI says. Continue reading →

Seattle set to approve mayor’s ‘Shelter Acceleration’ plan for more, larger Tiny House Villages

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(Image: CHS)

The Seattle City Council is expected to finalize and approve legislation Tuesday afternoon to clear the way for larger Tiny House Villages in the city as part of efforts to speed the creation of new temporary shelter in Seattle.

The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections is recommending the council pass the legislation part of Mayor Katie Wilson’s plan for “Shelter Acceleration” in the city that will raise legal limits on residents at “transitional encampments” to 150. The bill will also allow one “interim use” 250-resident village in the city. Continue reading →

Council resolution would set timeline for Seattle’s next steps after damning King County Regional Homelessness Authority audit

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The Seattle City Council’s Human Services, Labor, and Economic Development Committee chaired by Alexis Mercedes Rinck is slated Friday morning to begin shaping a resolution on the city’s next steps after a forensic audit revealed major financial problems around the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.

The audit revealed the regional authority has a $44.7 million spending hole with millions unaccounted for.

The audit commissioned by city and county officials last summer as concerns rose around the authority’s finances showed the organization bleeding funds with a negative cash position of $44.7 million. Continue reading →

‘Shelter Acceleration’ — Report recommends Seattle City Council approve plan to expand Tiny House Villages

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The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections is recommending the Seattle City Council pass legislation to adopt Mayor Katie Wilson’s plan for “Shelter Acceleration” in the city.

“This bill allows for the expansion of an already authorized use and does not modify where
shelters are allowed or otherwise reduce health and safety standards,” the report (PDF) reads. “It does not modify any other permitting regulations, such as setbacks and screening requirements.”

“Without accelerated action, hundreds of new microshelter units will be delayed,” it concludes.

The council’s Land Use and Sustainability Committee is scheduled to finalize amendments and possibly vote on the bill Wednesday morning. Continue reading →

Officials call for report of ‘corrective actions’ at King County Regional Homelessness Authority

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The King County Council has closed the barn door. Tuesday, the council approved a motion to “strengthen oversight” of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority and “establish a structured, fact-based process to evaluate its future.”

The motion follows release of an audit showing the regional authority has a $44.7 million spending hole with millions unaccounted for. The audit commissioned by city and county officials last summer as concerns rose around the authority’s finances showed the organization bleeding funds with a negative cash position of $44.7 million.

The report found the authority has structural spending issues where expenditures consistently outpaced the reimbursements and funding inflows. Continue reading →

‘Buffer zones’: Hollingsworth backs restrictions near parks and schools in Seattle’s plan for larger Tiny House Villages

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Seattle City Council president and District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth is backing a proposal that would restrict a plan for larger Tiny House Villages in the city from being placed near parks and schools, putting the proposed emergency shelters in the same category as pot shops and strip clubs.

“For cannabis stores, it’s 1,000 feet for elementary, high school, middle school. It’s 500 feet for parks,” Hollingsworth said in Wednesday’s special meeting of the council’s land use committee. “So, you know, there are certain things in our city that do have buffers. We call them buffer zones.”

The proposed school, daycare, and park restrictions were part of seven amendments raised by council members Wednesday as they debated legislation that would raise legal limits on residents at “transitional encampments” to 150. The bill would also allow one “interim use” 250-resident village in the city. Continue reading →

Seattle City Council considers public safety and Good Neighbor Agreement requirements in plan for larger Tiny House Villages

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(Image: City of Seattle)

The Seattle City Council’s land use committee is slated Wednesday morning to debate a set of proposed amendments to legislation opening the way for Mayor Katie Wilson’s plan to create new, larger Tiny House Villages in the city as part of a push to quickly create new emergency shelter in Seattle.

CHS reported previously on the latest legislation moving through the Seattle City Council that would raise legal limits on residents at “transitional encampments” to 150. The bill would also allow one “interim use” 250-resident village in the city.

Wednesday, committee members are raising a set of proposed amendments they say are focused on helping to make sure the new, larger villages fit safely into the city’s neighborhoods. Continue reading →

King County Regional Homelessness Authority has a $44.7M spending hole with millions unaccounted for — See the audit

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Mayor Katie Wilson is saying “all options are on the table” after a $600,000 forensic audit has revealed more than $12.26 million in public funds cannot be accounted for by the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.

The city is demanding a response to the report by early May addressing findings and a full corrective plan later in the month. KCRHA has also been told to stop hiring and freeze spending.

The audit commissioned by city and county officials last summer as concerns rose around the authority’s finances also shows the organization bleeding funds with a negative cash position of $44.7 million. The report found the authority has structural spending issues where expenditures consistently outpaced the reimbursements and funding inflows.

The KCHRA’s budget was proposed as $205 million in 2026 with about 60% coming from Seattle and the rest from the county and state and federal pass-through grants.

The authority was formed as officials pledged the new effort would consolidate efforts to address the homelessness crisis at a broader, more regional level.

Wednesday, the terrible numbers of the audit came from a burst of outcry from the mayor’s office and City Hall over the findings. The full audit report from Clark Nuber P.S. is even more damning.

Councilmember Maritza Rivera of District 4 said the report documents “egregious mismanagement” and serious failures in financial oversight and internal controls in her call for the KCRHA to be “dismantled.” Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Tiny House Village part of push for burst of new emergency shelter in Seattle — UPDATE

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Screenshot

A Central District THV at its 2016 opening

A $1.1 million plan from the Low Income Housing Institute to build a 32-tiny house “emergency transitional encampment” just off Capitol Hill’s busy E Olive Way will be part of the push to rapidly create new shelter in Seattle.

Early plans for the “Capital Hill Tiny Village” (sic) show a gridded layout, seven by three deep, with a fourth row of six individual shelters, group kitchen and laundry facilities, plus a “hygiene trailer.” A security shack is diagramed at the entrance facing Belmont Ave. The lot’s new run of 8-foot cedar fencing will stay as the camp takes shape.

UPDATE: A spokesperson for Mayor Katie Wilson tells CHS the plan for the Capitol Hill village is not being driven out of her administration and is not being funded as part of the mayor’s acceleration of new shelter. Funding from the King County Regional Homelessness Authority — Seattle provides approximately 61% of the KCRHA’s total budget — will power the LIHI project.

The cleared 4,300-square-foot Belmont Ave lot was home to the recently demolished Granberg Apartments. That building was acquired and cleared as Downtown Emergency Service Center develops a 120-unit supportive housing apartment building with onsite services for its residents. The block had been home to trio of former transitional housing building from Pioneer Human Services before the $6.5 million acquisition. Continue reading →

Seattle begins debate over raising limit for residents at ‘transitional encampments’ to 150

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Examples of other shelter facilities from the Wilson administration presentation (PD)F on the proposed expansion

The Seattle City Council’s land use committee will take up key legislation needed to achieve Mayor Katie Wilson’s plan to expand tiny house villages and provide more emergency shelter in Seattle.

The new proposed bill from Wilson’s office would increase the limit on residents at a Seattle tiny house village from 100 to 150 and allow one “interim use” 250-resident village in the city.

“The current land use code limits the size of each transitional encampment to 100 people per site,” council analysis of the proposal reads. “This creates a significant barrier to efficiently use limited City-owned lands, in particular if there is already a smaller microshelter on the site that has the potential to be expanded.” Continue reading →