Housing Hope to close cafe, furniture store

Published 5:30 am Wednesday, January 21, 2026

EVERETT — Housing Hope will close two businesses used to provide job training to individuals with barriers to accessing employment, the nonprofit announced Friday, citing financial difficulties as the reason for the closures.

The businesses, Kindred Cafe and Renew Home and Decor, are operated by Housing Hope, the Snohomish County-based affordable housing nonprofit. Kindred Cafe, which opened in 2019, serves food and coffee from its location on Broadway in Everett. It will close Jan. 30. Renew Home and Decor, a used furniture store also located on Broadway in Everett, will close on March 31.

Those are what Housing Hope calls enterprise businesses, used to provide job training to people in need through a program the nonprofit operates called HopeWorks. That program began in 2011, initially as a separate nonprofit, before merging with Housing Hope.

Housing Hope will continue to provide job training through its HopeWorks program after the closures. Although its cafe will no longer operate, Kindred Kitchen will continue to provide catering services and job training.

In an announcement Friday, Housing Hope cited “the poor financial performance of our housing portfolio” and the “severe distress” of the affordable housing industry as reasons for closing the enterprise businesses.

“All of the difficult decisions being made at Housing Hope aim to ensure the sustainability of our organization for decades to come,” the nonprofit wrote Friday. “Housing and supportive services are the cornerstone of our mission, and until that cornerstone is solidified once again, we will continue to make adjustments to the lines of business and programs we can operate.”

A multitude of circumstances led to that financial stress, Housing Hope CEO Kathryn Opina said in an interview Tuesday.

Rates of delinquency in Housing Hope units — those who are behind on rent or not paying the full amount — have increased, she said. The costs of operating the nonprofit have also spiked in recent years, Opina said, including dramatic rises in insurance and construction costs. Housing Hope had subsidized the businesses as they were not profitable on their own, she said.

“We’re focusing on our most crucial programs, which is our housing and services that support our residents,” Opina said. “What we hope is that program, our housing, is more insulated for embracing any further funding changes that come down the road.

Twelve positions at the businesses will be cut as part of the closures. Those entering the HopeWorks job training program will still have the ability to work at Kindred Kitchen or at the nonprofit’s other enterprise business, Tomorrow’s Hope Child Development Center.

“When they go into that program, they would still have those four weeks in the classroom then eight weeks on the job, although less options for on-the-job training,” Opina said.

After the reductions, four staff members will continue to work at Kindred Kitchen while Tomorrow’s Hope will employ 31. Along with catering, the nonprofit also hopes to use the Kindred Kitchen space for event rentals. The Renew Home and Decor building will be used as a community resource space before the nonprofit eventually redevelops it into affordable housing, Opina said.

Housing Hope closed another of its enterprise businesses, Ground Works Landscaping, in August 2025, according to its website. In 2023, Housing Hope eliminated 26 positions — 10% of its staff — as part of layoffs amid financial difficulties.

“We tried to make changes, we brought in industry experts. We increased staff, decreased staff. We could not improve the bottom line,” Housing Hope spokesperson Joan Penney said of the enterprise businesses. “We’re just not in a situation right now where we can keep it on, but we are dedicated to the training because that’s what helps our tenants break their cycle of poverty.”

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.