Kat's Corner - August 2025

matthewjager4
5 days ago
3 min read

Welcome to Kat's Corner!

Agency updates and insight from Housing Hope's Interim CEO, Kathryn Opina.

Kindred Kitchen Summer Dinner

We enjoyed a lovely evening in Kindred Kitchen on July 24th, featuring the very first plated dinner served in our Cafe. It was incredible! The night was inspiring with testimonials from current and past trainees sharing their experiences in the training academy. We recognized the HopeWorks board for all they’d done in building and sustaining the work of HopeWorks as it now officially merges with the Housing Hope board. It was a joyous occasion that truly filled my heart. The work of the job training academy has been so impactful and life-changing for the individuals who have been involved. I’m proud of the work HopeWorks has done and will continue to do in the days and years to come! Thank you to all who attended.

Scriber Place Groundbreaking

We are full steam ahead with planning a wonderful celebration to mark the start of construction at Scriber Place, located at 5801 194th Street SW, Lynnwood, WA. This project is the culmination of several partnerships that make it incredibly exciting and special. First, this is the first project in Washington State by a non-profit organization that utilizes surplus school district land to build affordable housing for students within the same school district. The Edmonds School District has been an incredible partner in designing the systems associated with filling this project. The Housing Authority of Snohomish County has provided 52 project-based vouchers for this project, which will enable the project to have robust built-in support services. And the icing on our partnership cake is the incredible Stewardship Development team, which I previously mentioned in my May Kat’s Corner. They have been a fantastic partner in helping us complete this special project. Scriber Place represents a model for developing affordable housing on school district land that Housing Hope seeks to replicate throughout the county. Join us on October 1st at noon in the baseball field directly across (west) from Cedar Valley Elementary school to celebrate this milestone.

Evictions

Well, there’s a nasty word that we don’t tend to want to discuss in the housing realm. While Housing Hope’s mission is to provide affordable housing, we have found ourselves having to navigate the eviction process far more frequently than we ever have in the history of our organization. Many affordable housing developers across our region are facing a similar challenge. While we provide low-barrier housing, our model still needs to operate as a business, and currently, collecting rent has proven to be challenging. This is due to many determining factors within each household, but as a landlord, we must initiate more financial evictions to make our line of business pencil out. We are doing this while directing our tenants to resources that help them access legal counsel through the Northwest Justice Project, with a grievance and ledger review process, to ensure that every detail is correct when a financial eviction is processed. We also proactively work with residents on options other than eviction such as mutual termination agreements and payment plans. While this is a complex subject to discuss, please be aware that it is part of our normal business operations and obligations to collect rent, even at subsidized levels, for the housing we manage. I’d be happy to discuss further how we are tackling these challenges head-on and in an informed way at Housing Hope.

That’s all for August - have a superb finish to summer and look for another Kat’s Corner in September.