New church member, Barb Oliver is excited to share that the amazing ministry of building tiny homes at Camp Second Chance is about to outgrow the “big tent”! In a partnership with the Low Income Housing Institute, they have been offered a larger space to take ending homelessness to the next level. In the past three years, Sound Foundations, which Barb coordinates, has built a system to end homelessness that has gotten notice nationwide because of the way it has offered individuals experiencing homelessness a place of safety, stability, and community on the way to permanent housing. Lives have been changed. Lives have been saved. And Fauntleroy Church has been so proud to stand beside Barb as she has patiently taught us to hammer, saw, paint, drill and "tilt up” spaces of transformation—each home even includes the prayers of volunteers written into its rafters!
HERE ARE JUST SOME OF THE RESULTS OF THAT GOOD WORK:
1. No one living in a tiny house has tested positive for Covid-19. Unfortunately, 440 people living in emergency shelters (50 locations), homeless housing (37 locations), and camping outdoors have tested positive in King County.
2. Last year, working with LIHI’s dedicated case managers, 52% of the tiny home village residents who exited moved into long term housing: 36% moved into permanent housing.
3. Also last year, 16% of tiny home village residents moved into transitional housing (many with Section 8 subsidies). In contrast, only 4% of people who exited emergency shelters and 23% who exited enhanced shelters obtained permanent housing.
INTRODUCING THE “MOVE AND IMPROVE” CAMPAIGN
So, beginning on November 1, 2020, Sound Foundations NW will move its operations from the “big tent” to a warehouse space in SODO provided by LIHI. The new space doubles the build footprint to 6,000 square feet, with the option to add additional space as needed. This means that instead of only being able to build 2 homes every three weeks, they can build between 1-2 tiny homes PER DAY starting with a new build system in December!
HOW WE CAN HELP? RIGHT NOW? DONATIONS!
You have always given generously in the past. With the onset of Covid, this mission has never been more vital. Barb estimates the November moving costs to be around $6,800. This will support the work to move and set up the new space, and help purchase some new equipment including electrical and pneumatic lines, a pallet jack, another air compressor, etc.
To help reach this goal, just go to the GoFundMe page listed here: https://gf.me/u/y4us2s
THEN share the link and maybe your own story of building a tiny home under the big tent on all of your social media platforms! If Sound Foundation should raise more than the amount needed for this move, they’ll use 100% of the excess donations toward building materials for the next tiny homes. Every dollar gets folks off the streets and into a space that is warm, safe, dry, and Covid, healthy. Let’s keep this good work going! THANK YOU for supporting this ministry as it moves and improves!
