Seattle's first "village" of small homes will soon provide a portion of the city's homeless population with electricity, hot water and a space to call their own while they search for more permanent housing.
The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, the Low Income Housing Institute and other volunteers finished building 14 small homes on Monday atop church property that was formerly a single family home, allowing the village to tap into the home's amenities.
The village will have heat, a kitchen area, and a central building with two toilets and a shower. Officials hope that living in individual spaces with electricity and a real roof will be more attractive for some homeless residents of Seattle than living in tent cities prone to flooding.
Seattle's first tiny house village opens soon to help the homeless, with electricity and plumbing. Story at 5:45. pic.twitter.com/Jm0LbrtKKz— Graham Johnson (@GrahamKIRO7) January 19, 2016
The homes cost about $2,200 to build, and residents will be expected to pay $90 a month to cover utilities. Sharon Lee, the executive director of the Low Income Housing Institute, expects residents to reside in the units for around four to six months until they transition out.
Residents are scheduled to move in later this week.
Despite the push for more small housing units, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has expressed concern that residents may not move out of the homes.
“The reason I supported encampments is for someone to have a safe place to sleep for a very short period of time," Murray told the Seattle Times in December. "My preference is to actually build the housing that people need so that we’re not talking about this.”