Copy of Kat's Corner - June 2025

matthewjager4
Jul 1
3 min read

Happy Summer! Welcome to Kat's Corner.

It’s been a busy month at Housing Hope. I’m happy to share with you some of the most happening highlights from this month at the agency.

Kindred Kitchen Summer Dinner

I hope you all will be able to join us on July 24th at Kindred Kitchen to celebrate the new Culinary Training Academy kitchen. We will be joined by members of the HopeWorks board to recognize their achievements over the past 14 years as that board sunsets and joins with the Housing Hope Board. We will be joined by our gracious funders at the Gates Foundation who helped us complete this kitchen. It will be a celebration of achievements and highlighting the bright future of our expansion for capacity in training even more trainees through this space. To purchase tickets, go to: https://my.onecause.com/event/organizations/fdafb137-f108-4854-bfaf-50af8ddde15f/events/vevt:c27104d8-9b32-4ac5-a54d-55ddf4a99b19/home/story

Property Dispositions

As I’ve mentioned in my early April Zoom calls, we are taking a strategic look at our portfolio to review which properties may no longer fit within our service offerings. With Housing Hope approaching 38 years in service this year and having moved to developing 50-60 unit Low Income Housing Tax credit properties, it makes us a good steward of our resources to reflect on how best to operate our main source of business. We have begun reviewing with our funders the possibility of disposing of several of our properties including Vision House (single family house) and Avanti House (triplex) both in Lake Stevens, Maple Leaf House (Arlington) and Crossroads House and shelter. We hope to find other non-profits in the area to continue operating these smaller properties and have had discussions with Interfaith Family Shelters to work on that possibility. I know there can be much nostalgia associated with some of these properties that have been with Housing Hope since the very early days but know this is a normal part of our growth as an organization we want to be sure we are good stewards of all of our resources and that our programs operate to their fullest capacity.

Groundworks Landscaping

We have made the difficult decision to close Groundworks Landscaping effective September 1, 2025. This decision was not made lightly. Over the past 14 years, we have dedicated significant time, resources, and passion into building a program that aimed to provide meaningful employment opportunities and job training through environmentally conscious landscaping services. While we are proud of the effort and commitment shown by our staff, participants, and partners, the program has not achieved the level of financial sustainability or employment outcomes we had hoped for. As a social enterprise, our dual goal has always been to create impact and remain viable as a business. After a thorough evaluation, it became clear that the program was not meeting either objective in a way that would justify continued investment. In particular, the challenges we faced in consistently securing contracts, generating sufficient revenue, and transitioning participants into long-term employment made the path forward increasingly unfeasible. We are deeply grateful for your support of this program over the years. All of you have touched lives in a purposeful way and should not take this program closure as a failure in any way. We are working closely with staff and current participants to ensure a thoughtful transition, including support services, referrals, and assistance in identifying next steps.

Zoom Meeting With Kathryn Opina

Please be sure to join me on Monday, July 7th at 5:00pm for Chat with Kat where we can discuss more about the highlights at Housing Hope and HopeWorks and you can have answers or concerns addressed directly.

Topic: Chat with Kat

Time: Jul 7, 2025 05:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89365836821?pwd=BaSTprqMoZcYNaQZNe794c6aeAy7yR.1

Meeting ID: 893 6583 6821

Passcode: 242227

Well, that’s it for the month of June. Stay tuned for more updates for Kat’s Corner as we work to stabilize Housing Hope and HopeWorks this year. Thank you for your support and as always please feel free to reach out to me directly if you have any questions.