Our guest speaker on Friday, October 10th was Joan Penney, Sr. Director of Resource Development, Marketing, and Communications for Housing Hope. There are 654 housing units in Housing Hopes inventory for those in need of shelter. There developmental pipeline was the first housing development on Edmonds School District property. State law recently allowed school districts to use excess property for these type of developments. Joan talked about the McKinney-Vento children and the difference between the description of homelessness issued by HUD and Housing Hope.
Joining Joan at the meeting was Kaitlan who is in charge of the volunteers. One of the first project is a partnership with a church to develop more housing. Blue Mountain Meadows in Sultan funded by USDA requires agriculture activities on the property. Other activities and operations includes Hope Works on Broadway, Kindred Kitchen which is open from 8 am to 2 pm. They employee those living in their housing units. There is a 12-week class on fundamentals with funding for transportation and clothing. The Social Enterprise Kitchen was given a $1.5 million dollar grant by the Gates Foundation. And, Renew is a slightly new and popular furniture store.