Licton Springs Tiny House Village, the city’s first authorized low-barrier encampment, opened April 5 in the north Seattle neighborhood.
The village has 22 tiny houses on-site, 17 of which were built by high school and college students as part of a career and technical education project run by the state of Washington. The village also runs a kitchen tent and has access to counseling offices. If the number of homeless neighbors exceeds the capacity of the tiny houses, they can stay in the “Kingdome” and “Queendome” overflow tents.
The Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) will provide case management, and Seattle Housing and Resource Effort (SHARE) runs the day-to-day operations at the site.
“Some of our friends will no longer struggle to find a safe and warm place to sleep,” said Elizabeth Dahl, executive director of Aurora Commons, a low-barrier day shelter for men and women.
The tiny-house village isn’t done growing yet. Eventually, it will host 30 tiny houses and house 70 people. LIHI plans to use grant money from the Lucky 7 Foundation to install hot showers.