Madison Family Shelter reopens after hiatus

EVERETT — Under a new name, the temporary tiny-home shelter behind Faith Lutheran Church in Everett is back up and running.

Madison Family Shelter, formerly Faith Family Village, reopened April 21 after a nearly 5-month hiatus. Within 16 days, one family staying at the shelter entered permanent, supportive housing, said Julie Willie, Everett’s director of community development. Currently, four of the Pallet shelter units are full.

Pallet, an Everett-based company, makes tiny homes designed to be built in less than one hour per unit. Madison Family Shelter includes eight units and four bathrooms. Each unit fits a family of four and has an individual air conditioning unit.

“They’re more than just a temporary space,” said Dan Blizard, family support specialist for the shelter. “With families that are coming from homelessness, it’s a really big thing.”

When it first opened in January 2024, the shelter became the first-ever Pallet shelter village in the country geared toward families. Within the first year, it served 22 families. About 70% of them transitioned to permanent, supportive housing within 90 days.

From January until its reopening in April, the shelter went on hiatus to rework the agreement between the founding organizations.

The village was originally a collaboration between Interfaith Family Shelter, Faith Lutheran Church, Faith Food Bank and the city of Everett. It was the brainchild of Faith Food Bank owner Roxana Bouroujerdi, who had noticed many of the food bank’s customers did not have a permanent place to live.

“When I talked to them, they said sometimes they’re sleeping in their car or sleeping in their friend’s car,” she said. “They didn’t have a place to cook or a place to really get food.”

In September 2023, Bouroujerdi decided to pull from the project because she didn’t agree with the way it was being managed.

“Although it hit a couple speed bumps, it’s now back in doing what it’s intended to do all along, which is to house families who need shelter,” Willie said.

The shelter’s new name speaks to the Madison neighborhood, which has been supportive throughout the process, said Lynsey Gagnon, executive director of Interfaith Family Shelter.

“All three parties are really interested in being here for the long, long term,” Gagnon said.

The intake process is extensive, Gagnon said, and every individual 13 and older goes through a background check. Families can stay for 90 days, but Interfaith provides ongoing case management for a year, along with tiered rental assistance.

“We were so happy to be able to figure out a unique and cost-effective model because every little bit counts,” Gagnon said. “You have to be creative at this point to find especially emergency shelter for families and kids.”

In 2021, Everett built its first 20-unit Pallet shelter site on Smith Avenue using American Rescue Plan Act funding in partnership with Everett Gospel Mission. After a successful pilot program, the city added 20 additional units to the site in 2022. Plans are in the works to expand the shelter’s footprint even further in the coming years, Willie said.

A third Pallet shelter site is also underway near the Phil Johnson Ballfields in south Everett in partnership with Volunteers of America Western Washington. A lawsuit from neighbors in 2023 halted its progress, but the city came to a settlement with the group in March, said city spokesperson Simone Tarver. The city hopes to open the new site, which will have 20 family units, in the fall. In line with the settlement, the site will operate for two years. After that, the city will remove the Pallet shelter units.

The Pallet shelters are versatile, Willie said, which could allow the city to find other uses for them, such as emergency management planning.

“That’s one of the beautiful things about them, they aren’t permanent structures,” Willie said. “So if a location is not appropriate after a certain amount of time, they’re very easy to deconstruct and store.”

While Madison Family Shelter was on hiatus, Interfaith expanded its children’s program. Now, the village has a part-time child and family advocate who focuses on children’s development and their relationship with their caregivers.

“They kind of take charge of everything else, outside of the housing bubble,” Gagnon said. “We realize that to be successful, it’s not just housing.”

The program includes a learning hour every weekday with tutoring support and other structured activities.

“It’s just a place where they can be a kid,” Gagnon said.

To help with the reopening, the shelter is looking for volunteers and donations, including bedding and food.

“It’s been a blessing to be able to provide space and know that some families have a chance to to get a little stable so that they can get into more permanent housing,” said Pam Karas, pastor of Faith Lutheran Church.

Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.