60-unit tiny home village for the homeless is coming to Tacoma this July
The project being called Kingfisher Village, 1824 S. 84th St., is a partnership between Pierce County and the Low-Income Housing Institute (LIHI) and is expected to open on July 21, according to LIHI.
According to a blog post on LIHI's website, the homes at the village will serve about 70 to 75 people at a time.
John Brown, a program manager for LIHI, told The News Tribune the tiny houses are 8-feet by 12-feet wide, are insulated and contain heat and air-conditioning units. The homes will include beds and furnishings.
According to Brown, the village will include case-management offices, a common kitchen, community space, security fencing, plumbed showers, laundry facilities, 24/7 staff offices, storage and parking.
According to LIHI, the village will serve individuals and couples that are experiencing homelessness in the Tacoma area. People are referred to Kingfisher Village as part of the state's Encampment Resolution program in cooperation with Pierce County and City of Tacoma.
LIHI has operated other tiny-home villages under the same model. While most of LIHI's villages are in the Seattle area, a few are in Tacoma, including one at 6th Avenue and Orchard Street.
Brown told The News Tribune the site cost $2 million to construct, and the tiny homes were built with help from volunteers, including high school students.
According to Pierce County Human Services spokesperson Kari Moore, the county contributed more than $1.9 million to fund the property acquisition and some initial capital costs for the site development — which includes infrastructure, grading and utility installation.
Some of the funding was made available to Pierce County through the Washington State Department of Commerce's Right of Way Encampment Resolution Program. The program, previously called the Rights-of-Way Safety Initiative, provides funding to local governments to support programs aimed at reducing encampments in public areas.
According to LIHI, the long-term vision for the site is to develop the property into affordable housing, which it has done with other villages in the Seattle area.
When asked why the Kingfisher Village was sited near South Hosmer Street, Brown told The News Tribune LIHI wanted to be a part of the growth in Tacoma's Hosmer area — a street that has long been associated with crime and homeless encampments.
'Our long-term goal for the site is to build multifamily workforce housing that will help contribute to the positive growth that is happening in the community,' Brown told The News Tribune.
The project is opening at a time where Tacoma is anticipated to lose more than 300 of its homeless shelter beds after June due to a funding shortfall. City officials have maintained optimism they will be able to get state funding made available in the budget to support local homeless programs, but the timeline and process for getting the funding remains unclear.
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