Agencies work together to build homes for lives of independence

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, June 1, 2011

It’s called the Willows at Melvin Place. Its roots are a complex tangle, but the purpose of this place is plain: To provide homes for people with disabilities.

The eight-unit subsidized housing project is being built a block off Broadway in Everett’s Pinehurst area, north of Everett Mall. Whe

n construction is finished late this year, the Willows at Melvin Place will be home for at least eight people who live with physical or developmental disabilities.

Four apartments on the two-story building’s lower level will have wide doors, roll-in showers and other features to accommodate wheelchairs.

“A lot of people with disabilities are homeless,” said Kenny Miller, 52, a developmentally disabled man who spoke at last week’s groundbreaking.

Veronica Rebeiro, program coordinator with the home-care agency Sunrise Services, Inc., works with Miller and other clients who need support to live independently. “There’s a very huge need,” Rebeiro said at the May 25 ceremony. The proximity to a bus line will be especially helpful to those with jobs or who need services, she said.

What’s complicated about the Willows at Melvin Place is a mix of federal and local funding for building costs, plus the overarching efforts of Washington Home of Your Own, an Everett-based nonprofit agency that has worked three years to develop the project.

“These kinds of projects take quite a bit of time,” said Mark Flynn, Seattle program center director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

At the groundbreaking, Flynn said the Willows at Melvin Place is a “HUD 811” building. The aim of the federal agency’s Section 811 is to help people with disabilities live as independently as possible. The federal agency provides money to develop rental housing where supportive services can be provided, and offers rent subsidies.

Debbie Buse Heslop, executive director of Washington Home of Your Own, said the Willows apartments are being built for more than $2 million. The Housing and Urban Development department provided about $1.2 million, she said. About $360,000 is coming from Snohomish County, $90,000 from the city of Everett, and $605,000 from the state Department of Commerce — an award from the Housing Trust Fund.

Buse Heslop said a HUD rental subsidy contract will provide long-term rental assistance. Tenants will pay 30 percent of their net monthly income for rent.

For Washington Home of Your Own, which was incorporated in 2000, the project is a first. “This is our first big new construction project,” said Buse Heslop. Senior Services of Snohomish County joined the effort as a consultant, she added.

In the past, Washington Home of Your Own has acquired bank-owned homes after foreclosures. “Our main focus in the beginning was promoting home ownership for people with disabilities,” she said. Many clients are employed, but need help with money management, she said. In the future, training programs may be held at the Willows building.

Working together, the nonprofit group and government at all levels put plans and dollars together so people like Miller won’t be homeless. Miller isn’t assured of an apartment in the Willows project, being built by Seattle’s Marpac Construction.

The nonprofit has about 30 disabled people on a waiting list for housing. Buse Heslop said the Everett Housing Authority will help with the application process.

“Probably over half of our folks are homeless — coming from an institution, a shelter or a car,” she said. “All are low-income with disabilities. They’re good folks.”

From a complicated process, the building will provide basic needs. Miller, who now lives on his own in south Everett, envisions a place that his mother could easily visit by bus.

“My mom comes to see me once a week,” he said.

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.