Catholic Charities wants to house the homeless in Pasco

Catholic Charities of

Eastern Washington is putting the finishing touches on a $13.2 million, 52-unit

housing project to serve chronically homeless people in the Tri-Cities. 

The Spokane-based

religious charity has a deal pending with the city of Pasco for 2.25 acres of

vacant land on Heritage Boulevard on Pasco’s east side. It is also finalizing

requests for funding  through the Washington State Housing Finance

Commission, said Jonathan Mallahan, Catholic Charities’ vice president for

housing.

“The project is really

coming along. There’s a high likelihood we’re going to get this off the ground

if we get those allocations,” he said.

If all goes well, it

will break ground in 2020 and open the project, named Father Bach, about a year

later. It will be the charity’s first Tri-City project to serve the homeless,

but not its first local undertaking. The organization operates farmworker

housing in Franklin County.

The Father Bach effort

fulfills its mission to serve the needy. Housing is a basic human right,

Mallahan said.

Catholic Charities has

applied for a special use permit to build a residential project in what is a

mixed industrial and residential neighborhood. 

The proposed four-story,

L-shaped residential building will include office space for social workers,

clinics and other services to support staff. The Father Bach project mirrors

similar housing efforts in Spokane and Walla Walla.

Mallahan called Heritage

Boulevard a great spot for people who need access to services beyond what will

be available at Father Bach. It’s close to public transportation and

shopping. 

The building itself is

designed to be self-contained to minimize the impact on the neighborhood.

It will be fenced with a

community garden and on-site recreational facilities.

The studio and

one-bedroom units will be reserved for people who have experienced chronic

homelessness. Catholic Charities will work with local service agencies to

identify potential residents.

Its Spokane residents

were homeless for an average of 10 years before moving into housing there.

Mallahan couldn’t say if

that will be the same in Pasco, but Catholic Charities is convinced there is a

real need for supportive housing in the Tri-Cities.

“We could build three of

these facilities and have no problem filling them,” he said.

A study commissioned by

Catholic Charities earlier this year said there are at least 40 chronically

homeless people living in the Tri-Cities and that at least 700 people

experience homelessness in the Mid-Columbia each year.

The study was performed

by the Seattle office of Kidder Mathews, a commercial real estate firm.

The project design

includes oversized corridors and abundant natural light, nods to the trauma

residents have faced.

“It’s a hard transition

to move inside. We don’t want people to feel confined,” Mallahan said.

Financing is the primary

reason it’s building one rather than three.

Catholic Charities

applied for $2 million in housing trust dollars from the Washington State

Housing Finance Commission and expects to learn if it qualifies around Jan. 1.

In January, it will

apply for $11.2 million in federal low-income housing tax credits over 10

years. The tax credit program is also administered by the housing finance

commission.

It hasn’t yet selected a

tax credit buyer.

Robert Vralsted of

Architecture All Forms in Spokane is the architect. Inland Group of Spokane is

the contractor.