Work continues on this new tiny home village in Bellingham
Work is progressing on Bellingham’s newest tiny home village, with completion set for October after a construction delay caused by a neighbors’ objections.
Called Gardenview Village, the enclave of 36 8-foot by 12-foot dwellings will offer housing for 30 to 50 people at Lakeway Drive and Woburn Street, near the city’s Community Garden and the Parks and Recreation Department offices.
It will cost about $1 million to build and operate Gardenview Village for two years, city officials said in March when funding was approved.
“We have made progress on expanding shelter options that are healthy, safe, and offer services to help people transition into permanent housing,” Mayor Seth Fleetwood said in a statement at the city’s website.
But Gardenview Village — the city’s third tiny home community — is designed as more than simply shelter.
Bellingham is partnering with the nonprofit Low Income Housing Institute and Road2Home to provide around-the-clock case management and emotional support on-site as residents find jobs, health care and move to more permanent housing.
Each furnished unit has insulation, heat, electricity, windows and a locking door. Couples and pets will be allowed.
There will be a community kitchen and a facility with restrooms, showers and laundry.
“The most effective shelters are the ones who focus on getting people into housing. They’re the ones that maximize ‘throughput,’” Councilman Michael Lilliquist said at the March 8 City Council meeting when the funding was approved.
“If it works out well, it won’t be 35 tiny homes with people in them, it will be the same 35 homes serving different people — because they’re put into housing,” Lilliquist said.
According to a January count of Whatcom County’s homeless population, some 218 people were living in tents, in cars, trucks and RVs or in other “unconventional” locations.
Most of Garden View’s construction and operating costs will be paid through the real estate excise tax fund and the federal Community Development Block Grant program, according to a report on the project from Tara Sundin, economic development manager, and Forrest Longman, deputy finance director.
Construction is expected to cost about $500,000 and annual operation is about $360,000, Sundin told the council in March.
Completion was initially slated for late spring, but several neighbors challenged the project under the State Environmental Policy Act and land-use issues, according to the city’s website.
Those challenges were denied by a hearing examiner and the project began to move ahead in early June, the city said.
Road2Home and LIHI accept volunteers and donations at info@road2home.org.
This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 12:36 PM.
