Published January 2003

Gates Foundation gives $2M to local housing nonprofits

SCBJ Staff

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded $2 million in December to two Snohomish County nonprofit organizations that provide housing for the homeless, from teen-aged mothers to unemployed workers.

Housing Hope, a county nonprofit group that provides emergency shelter and transitional housing, was awarded $1.375 million for the construction of 50 new housing units.

Housing Hope’s executive director, Ed Petersen, said the money will allow the agency to build new units in the east-county area.

Intercommunity Housing, which provides transitional housing for poor and families with children, was awarded $962,500. The money will be used to construct 20 transitional housing units in south county, said Walter Zisette, agency vice president.

Transitional housing is intended as an interim step for people who’ve been homeless. Typically, people stay about a year while they get on their feet, and then move on to permanent housing, Zisette said.

The two awards were announced Dec. 12 at a gathering at Everett Station. Jaime Garcia, director of Pacific Northwest programs for the Gates Foundation, announced the awards. The Pacific Northwest division distributes housing funds to Snohomish, King and Pierce counties. Its goal is to create 1,560 housing units in the three counties.

Garcia pointed out that while the rest of the nation is averaging 6 percent unemployment, Washington state’s figure is at 6.7 percent. Behind those figures is an increasing number of state residents, 10 percent, who live in poverty.

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