New YWCA facility an opportunity to escape homelessness

Today -- donor plaques, glass tiles, Chihuly sculpture, computers, kitchenettes and all -- the YWCA Opportunity Place will open in Seattle as home to people who would otherwise be homeless.


		Joshua Trujillo / P-I
	The YWCA Opportunity Place, located at Third Avenue and Lenora Street in Belltown, is the kind of place where anyone would like to live, a home for people who would be homeless without it.

Prospective tenants are being screened according to federal low-income/Section 8 project-based housing guidelines.

The seven-story rose building on the southeast corner of Third Avenue and Lenora Street in Belltown looks like the kind of place where a lot of people might like to live.

That was the point, YWCA representatives said. Building an inspiring place where shattered souls can be restored and people can move themselves to self-sufficiency was the chief goal.

"We wanted to end chronic homelessness," said Rita Ryder, the YWCA's executive director for the past 25 years.

Hester Garrett, 59, a former bus driver now on medical disability and a prospective tenant, said homeless women need above everything to believe in themselves. The YWCA Angeline's Center for Homeless Women will occupy the first floor of the new building.

"It's scary being out there, not knowing where you're going to live," Garrett said. "A lot of homeless women, they're sick and just want to flop on a sofa. To be treated like a queen -- that's what a lot of homeless women want and need. To have your own bathroom!"


		Joshua Trujillo / P-I
	Yuliya Zakh organizes the computer lab of the new YWCA Opportunity Place. In addition to the lab, Opportunity House offers kitchenettes, art and a home with dignity to break the cycle of homelessness.

The 145-unit building was the result of a $42.7 million capital construction campaign. More than 6,000 donors, including businesses, families and individuals, contributed $29.1 million to the campaign.

Of that, individuals gave $14.1 million. Corporations ranging from The Boeing Co. and Microsoft Corp. to furniture stores also made in-kind contributions of beds, computers, furniture, dishes and other items.

"It's an incredible fund-raising feat, particularly in a recession," said Bill Rumpf, deputy director of the Seattle Office of Housing, which provided $4.4 million to the project. Additional public funding and federal low-income housing tax credits rounded out the campaign.

"That kind of fund raising is a measure of how much trust people have in that organization, and that people really wanted not a bare-bones facility, but an exceptional one," Rumpf said.

Jaime Garcia, director of Pacific Northwest Programs for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said the building reflects the YWCA's belief in the humanity and dignity of people and will help stabilize people's lives through a broad range of services. The Gates Foundation gave $4 million to build Opportunity Place, including an initial $2 million to nail down the site.

Opportunity Place will also serve non-tenants, providing an estimated 4,500 people a year with medical and mental health help, meals, computer, job training and job-search skills, life skills and therapeutic arts and crafts.

Women currently crowded into the Angeline's day-use facility across the street will be able to sit around a day-room fireplace and receive meals. There also are small courtyards with waterfalls.

Liz Mills, director of Opportunity Place, said the YWCA board "finds it unacceptable that women are homeless" -- and acted accordingly.

"We will break the cycle of homelessness and poverty for as many women as we can," Mills said.

Sue Sherbrooke, deputy director of Opportunity Place, said the facility was designed not only to provide a safe, secure place for women who have been victims of violence, medical or economic hardship, but to inspire them.

The artwork in the building includes stained-glass windows, a Chihuly and other sculptures, inspirational tiles with the words "hope" and "dignity," and leaf-patterned stainless-steel balconies.

"People," Sherbrooke said, "rise to the level of their surroundings."

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