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KENNEWICK -- As volunteers prepare to count the Tri-Cities' homeless population today, the Tri-City Union Gospel Mission is acting to reduce that count.
After a year of planning, the mission has purchased two Kennewick apartment buildings to start a transitional housing program for homeless residents that it calls Seasons.
Donald Porter, mission executive director, said Seasons will provide a supportive place for people who are putting their lives back together.
"We are raising people up to take their proper place," he said.
The fourplexes, located side-by-side at 3 and 11 South Edison St. in Kennewick, will provide eight units for transitional housing, Porter said.
The mission will close the purchase of the buildings Friday, but it will be a couple of months before the mission has people move into the units. Leases for the current occupants have to run out, and the agency plans to paint and furnish the units, Porter said.
The mission's efforts coincide with today's annual point-in-time homeless count, which is performed by volunteers and service providers of the Benton Franklin Community Action Committee.
Last year, the count found 308 households representing 474 individuals who were homeless. Although the overall number of homeless individuals had decreased from the year before, the count found an increase in those who were considered at risk of becoming homeless.
Transitional housing is one piece in the puzzle of decreasing homelessness.
With Seasons, people will be able to spend two to three years in the temporary housing and will receive support from the mission, Porter said. Rent will be charged on a sliding scale.
"We know it takes time," Porter said. But the mission's project will provide those it helps with time to find a job so they will be able to pay for housing, utilities and child care or child support.
"It is hard to take on the full cost of living," he said.
The apartments are near schools, shopping and other services and are on the bus line, Porter said.
"We felt that we had found just what we needed," he said.
Porter said the mission first considered building a transitional housing unit and a women's shelter. But that proved to be a larger project than the nonprofit was ready for.
A women's shelter is still being planned down the road, Porter said. The cost to build that facility is estimated at $1 million.
The mission's current women's shelter next to the men's shelter in Pasco is too small for the need, Porter said. It is full each night.
For the Seasons apartments, the mission paid half the cost up front and has a loan for the rest, which it expects to pay off within three years, he said.
The Raise Your Tents fundraising event last week donated $10,001 to the project. Area residents camped out for that fundraiser at Central United Protestant Church in Richland to raise money for housing and awareness of homelessness.
The mission also had $30,000 from ShareFest Tri-Cities last spring and a saved bequest that helped pay for the buildings.
Seasons, like the rest of the mission's programs, is something the agency couldn't do without the support it receives from Tri-Citians, Porter said.
-- Kristi Pihl: 582-1512; kpihl@tricityherald.com
