Everett’s second Pallet shelter village nears open date

EVERETT — Officials broke ground Monday on the long-awaited Faith Family Village, a site that will soon provide emergency housing for homeless families.

Last September, the city approved the permit for the project at 6708 Cady Road, north of Madison Street. Eight Pallet shelter units on the Faith Lutheran Church property will house up to 32 people for up to 90-day stays. All the units are reserved for families with children.

There is no set open date, but leaders say it’ll be in the next few months.

Pallet, an Everett-based company, makes temporary shelters meant to be built quickly — less than an hour per unit. The small shelters, made of aluminum and insulated panels, give residents a measure of privacy.

The Interfaith Family Shelter will run the project. Shelter staff will manage admitting families, accepting referrals from schools and 211 as well as taking calls on their intake line and submissions on their website.

Interfaith will also provide families in the shelter with help transitioning to permanent housing.

That help is sorely needed. The county’s homeless population has grown each year since 2018, according to annual counts of people without permanent housing. This year’s point-in-time count was the highest yet, at 1,285 people.

Roxana Boroujerdi, who runs the food bank at Faith Lutheran Church, led the push for the new Pallet shelter project.

Speaking to people who came through the food bank, Boroujerdi saw many of them were either homeless or on the verge of homelessness.

“I started to investigate what options there were for homeless families and I discovered there were almost none,” she said in an interview.

Shelters for women and children often won’t accept families with fathers or older boys, Boroujerdi found.

Interfaith, one of the few shelters that accepts families with men, has a waiting list that takes at least six to eight weeks, said Jim Dean, its director.

Boroujerdi decided to launch the new Pallet project, in part, to fill the gap for fathers with kids.

“Homeless people already have enough problems without having to break up to meet some rule,” she said.

Faith Family Village has several big sources of funding, including American Rescue Plan Act money from Everett.

U.S. Rep Rick Larsen, D-Everett, got money for the project through congressional appropriations. A significant chunk also came from donations.

Contributors also donated household items.

“What I always tell people is: ‘Look around your house,’” Boroujerdi said, pointing out if you need it, families in the shelters will need it too.

The program will be the second Pallet community in the city. The first, located next to the Everett Gospel Mission’s shelter on Smith Avenue, doubled its capacity last year. It now has 40 units for single people.

Another site, run by Volunteers of America, is in the works. That community is expected to have 20 units to house single women and children.

The council allocated $2.7 million in ARPA dollars for expanding the Pallet program last year.

When the Everett City Council approved the Smith Avenue program in 2021, the council made it contingent on the passage of Everett’s controversial “no sit, no lie” law.

The city provided support to the Faith Family Village project as it was being developed, ensuring all regulations were followed to receive federal funding and helping different organizations to collaborate, Community Development Director Julie Willie said.

“I think everybody is really happy and relieved to be moving forward with getting the Pallets up and running,” Willie said. The project is a dream that’s been a “long time coming,” she said.

Sophia Gates: 425-339-3035; sophia.gates@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @SophiaSGates.