PORT ORCHARD — In 2016, Kitsap County officials and advocates for the homeless envisioned a transitional housing solution of "tiny cabin" villages throughout the county. The concept is modeled on other "tiny home" communities in Washington and Oregon.
Last year at this time, South Kitsap Commissioner Charlotte Garrido thought a suitable site had been identified. Garrido was hopeful the site would be up and running by early 2018.
Now, with 2018 coming to a close, it appears those who might have been served by the tiny cabin village will have to weather another winter without stable shelter.
Among the obstacles, agencies that were to have partnered with the county have yet to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that addresses site management and case management for the residents. Negotiations on the MOU could be jeopardized, as Kitsap Rescue Mission, a key player, is re-evaluating its role.
Port Orchard Church of Christ has offered to host the cluster of 14 insulated "cabins," each roughly the size of a tool shed, with separate communal kitchen and bathroom facilities, as allowed by county code. The fenced community is to be called "Santana Village" after the late Sally Santana, a fierce advocate of the homeless who died in 2013.
County code allows religious organizations or public entities to host a "large transitory accommodation" of 11 to 40 shelters for up to 50 residents. Initial approvals are for six months, with the option for extensions including permanent approval. All approvals are subject to county review with public input.
No permit application for the Santana Village project has been submitted yet, said Jim Bolger, assistant director of the county's Department of Community Development at a meeting with neighbors of the church Thursday.
Given the length of the permitting process, the earliest installation of the cabins could begin is "optimistically" four or five months, Bolger said, "realistically" more like five or six months until a permit would be issued, pushing the estimated opening of Santana Village into the spring.
Some tangible progress has been made. Homes for All — a coalition of public agencies (including the county), nonprofits, faith-based organizations and individual volunteers — has spearheaded construction of the cabins.
The project in July received an $11,153 grant from AARP, which Homes for All has used to renovate three modular homes donated by a local business. The modular homes will house the shared kitchen and bathroom facilities as well as an office where caseworkers will meet with residents as they work toward permanent housing.
Kitsap Rescue Mission is backing off on its involvement as the case management provider for residents in the village.
Interim executive director Nancy Olsten said the rescue mission had envisioned a village sited on a vacant parcel with an absentee landlord when it signed on to the project. Now that the village is sited on an active church property in a neighborhood, the proposed barriers to entry for residents have become higher when it comes to issues like drug and alcohol use and criminal history. Olsten said the Rescue Mission still supports the project, but the scope and purpose of the village no longer aligns with the services the mission provides.
"It's a little bit different, with a different level of concern and scrutiny," Olsten said.
Kitsap Community Resources, which is to oversee the screening and placement of applicants, has also taken a step back. KCR's executive director, David Wunderlin, was fired in June after the board of directors found he had been simultaneously working for another agency. Irmgard Davis, the acting executive director, says KCR remains committed, but she wants to take a measured approach.
Davis indicated there have been changes in leadership elsewhere that could impact the MOU. A meeting is planned Monday.
"We need to get all parties to the table and talk some more because there has been some change," Davis said. "There's still pretty much the same players, we just need to get some consensus."
Kitsap Rescue Mission has also undergone a shakeup in leadership this fall, with the nonprofit's board of directors firing executive director Mike O'Shaughnessy.
