City celebrates Monroe Family Village opening

Although the rain poured down during Housing Hope’s ribbon-cutting ceremony at Monroe Family Village last week, nothing could diminish the cheerful spirit of the project’s contributors or the families preparing to move in to their new homes.

The celebration took place at noon Friday, Oct. 30, and included tours around the 2.36-acre parcel on West Main Street near St. Vincent de Paul. The Monroe Family Village is Housing Hope’s largest supportive housing community to date.

Numerous local elected officials, including Washington Sen. Kirk Pearson, Monroe Mayor Geoffrey Thomas, Monroe City Councilmember Kevin Hanford and former Monroe councilmember Tony Balk, attended the event. Julia Terlinchamp, congressional liaison to Congresswoman Suzan DelBene, presented on the congresswoman’s behalf.

Housing Hope chief operating officer Fred Safstrom addressed attendees, providing them with a glimpse of Housing Hope’s history in east Snohomish County.

“The community in Monroe came together about 10 years ago and said ‘Homelessness in Monroe is intolerable; we've got to do something about it,’ ” Safstrom said.

Housing Hope has since created 40 affordable rental units and 48 low-income family homeownership units in Gold Bar, Sultan, Monroe and Snohomish. The Monroe Family Village adds 47 new low-income and affordable rental units to the east county area.

The nine-building complex features two- and three-bedroom condominium-style units oriented toward low-income families with children. The development includes laundry facilities, classroom and community space, onsite property management, in-home case management, a playground, two community garden areas and a Futsal court, to accommodate a modified version of soccer.

The complex is made up of 24 units that will be supported by project-based Section 8 housing vouchers and 23 units that will be affordable rental units. All 47 units have been leased. Several families attending the celebration looked forward to moving in on Sunday.

Housing Hope seeks to provide a continuum of services to help families get back on their feet in a way that’s both holistic and sustainable. Through its College of Hope program, residents of Monroe Family Village will have access to employment counseling, job readiness training and life skills classes.

“They'll be learning how to budget, they'll be learning how to cook, they'll be learning how to raise their families, they'll be learning how to prepare for jobs,” Safstrom said. “And while they're learning that, their children will be in here, and their children will be learning a parallel curriculum, and these families’ lives are going to be transformed as a result of this work.”

Housing Hope director of housing development Bobby Thompson served as the project lead on Monroe Family Village. He spoke about the intricacies of developing new Housing Hope communities, which are more complicated than ordinary housing since traditional methods of financing aren’t available for low-income projects. He said the property was purchased on Aug. 31, 2009, using a state of Washington land acquisition program.

“I do get a little emotional about it, because it's been a journey,” Thompson said. “It's been a real journey.”

Thompson acknowledged numerous agencies that helped along the way, including Dykeman Architects, Impact Capital, Heritage Bank and National Equity Fund. He acknowledged the state for granting the project’s initial funding request of $1.85 million in 2012.

As representatives of each different organization talked about its contributions to the project, they were asked to cut a small ribbon that represented the collaborative nature of the project. The project’s different contributors cut a total of 13 small red ribbons.

Monroe resident Kristina Jorgensen cut her own red ribbon during the ceremony. Jorgensen, who lives in a Housing Hope apartment complex in Monroe called Woods Creek Village, has been able to transform her life with the help of the organization

“A few years ago, I struggled with addiction, and on August 18 of 2013 both of my kids were removed from my care by CPS because of abuse and neglect,” Jorgensen said. “I was homeless, I was sleeping on park benches, in the rain, and sleeping in motor homes; wherever I could.”

Jorgensen successfully completed drug treatment, and eventually regained custody of her children. She serves on Housing Hope’s Social Services Committee and has become an advocate for parents struggling to regain custody of their children.

“Today I get to go to school and I get to work,” Jorgensen said. “What this housing is going to do is allow families to reunite.”

The presentation concluded with words from Mayor Geoffrey Thomas. Thomas stood in the pouring rain — becoming drenched in less than a minute — to illustrate a powerful point.

“I think it's safe to say that everybody here tonight has a place to go; has a place to be dry,” Thomas said. “As I stand here before you, there are people in our community that are living in this rain.”   

The city of Monroe contributed substantially to the Monroe Family Village, based on an ordinance that provides reduced development fees for low-income housing projects. The city bore the brunt of the mitigation costs and used money from its general fund to cover the fees. Thomas asked the crowd to chant the words “Housing Hope” with him, while thinking about what Housing Hope really means.

He credited former councilmember Tony Balk, who urged the council to adopt the ordinance that helped support the project.

“This doesn't do everything, but it does something,” Thomas said. “And it helps with Housing Hope.”

For more information about Housing Hope, visit www.housinghope.org.