Lacey, Homes First shift gears on house for homeless teens after building cost too high
A local partnership is set to buy a home to house homeless teens instead of build one after the partners determined they couldn’t construct a home at a prevailing wage for $350,000.
That’s according to Lacey City Manager Scott Spence, who updated the Lacey City Council this month on Genesis House, a program designed to stabilize the lives of four young adults who are homeless.
Prevailing wage comes into play because of the public money attached to the project. The city is set to commit $150,000, while the nonprofit Homes First would commit about $200,000 provided by a state Department of Commerce grant.
The other potential partner in the program is the Olympia-based nonprofit Community Youth Services.
Lacey also is prepared to spend about $55,000 annually to fund a half-time case manager for up to two years, CYS Chief Executive Derek Harris said.
“We still have work to do on our end to ensure we can be a good partner on this project,” Harris said Monday.
The case manager would monitor and support the teens in the house, according to city information.
Homes First, a Lacey-based provider of affordable housing, would manage the property, Chief Executive Trudy Soucoup said.
Even buying a home for $350,000 might be a challenge in a red-hot real estate market, but Soucoup said they will be looking for a house within the North Thurston Public Schools boundary that can be purchased at a lower price and renovated.
It’s the beginning of what she hopes will be a longstanding program for young adults who are homeless. She also hopes to get other jurisdictions involved.
“There’s a need in this community that needs to be addressed,” she said.
The original vision for the program was to build tiny homes at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Lacey. That didn’t work out, but the name, Genesis House, was retained.
“It honors the Lutherans that got it started for us,” Soucoup said.
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 2:45 PM.
