Bellingham nonprofit secures staging area to construct new tiny homes for future village
HomesNOW! Not Later, a local nonprofit that operates two tiny home villages for formerly unhoused individuals in Bellingham, announced it has found an available space to temporarily use as a staging area to build new tiny homes.
The staging area is a parking lot and maintenance shed owned by the Whatcom Council On Aging., located at 140 East Bellis Fair Parkway, according to an announcement on the HomesNOW! Facebook page.
HomesNOW! intends to fence in the area and install surveillance to keep the new tiny homes protected while they are built, said HomesNOW! chairman Doug Gustafson in a Facebook video announcing the securing of the staging area.
“We are really looking forward to this. We’re going to need your help to help build the tiny homes. We’re also going to need your help to volunteer or if you have extra money lying around — I know a lot of you don’t but if people do, we could really use some donations right now to help build these things,” Gustafson said in the video.
The homes are expected to eventually be transferred by the city of Bellingham to the nonprofit’s new North Haven village site in the Birchwood neighborhood, where the nonprofit’s two existing villages — Unity Village and Swift Haven — will be permanently relocated.
The timeline of that move has been delayed to the spring of 2025 after North Coast Credit Union appealed the city’s approval to relocate the tiny home villages to the site, claiming the business would be adversely impacted by the decision.
North Coast Credit Union President and CEO A.C. Griffith previously said the business “supports initiatives to aid unhoused people in our community” but that it was “seeking more time to work with the city of Bellingham on these issues and others so a modified Planned Development Contract can be created.”
The city of Bellingham purchased the new site at 3300 Northwest Ave. for $1.2 million and had been looking for a site to relocate the two existing villages, which are operating under temporary permits and must be moved.
Unity Village near the Post Point wastewater treatment plant is in the way of an expansion project, and Swift Haven, at the Geri Fields ballpark, is on land bought with state funds specifically designated for recreation.
“A big thank you to the Whatcom Council on Aging and everybody who’s been supportive of HomesNOW! over the years. We’re really looking forward to getting this over with, with the move and upgraded amenities for the people at both villages,” Gustafson said.
This story was originally published September 18, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
