‘I have a home.’ New affordable housing project opens doors to homeless seniors in Olympia

Local officials celebrated the grand opening of a new affordable housing complex on Olympia’s east side on Wednesday.

The five-story building is located on the northwest corner of Martin Way East and Pattison Street Northeast, near the Intercity Transit headquarters.

The Low-Income Housing Institute, a non-profit developer, held the event in the parking lot of the new building about a year after holding a groundbreaking ceremony there. The building, called Lotus Court, features 64 supportive housing apartments intended for formerly homeless seniors ages 55 and older, according to LIHI.

The grand opening comes about six years after the City of Olympia bought the property and sold it to LIHI for $1. It’s part of a regional effort to build more affordable housing for vulnerable residents.

“People should not have to live in cars, tents or be left to survive on the street,” Sharon Lee, LIHI Executive Director, said in a news release. “With winter approaching, it is truly heartbreaking to see so many people living unsheltered. With the completion of Lotus Court, many more people will have a warm, safe place to live and thrive.”

Lee welcomed Olympia Mayor Dontae Payne at the grand opening. Payne called the project a major step in the community’s efforts to provide “dignified housing” for seniors.

“Prioritizing senior housing is critical as we continue to see more and more people on fixed incomes struggle to keep up with rising housing costs,” Payne said.

Olympia City Manager Jay Burney said the city helped fund the project with local Home Fund dollars. He said this project builds momentum towards a regional goal of building 700 affordable housing units in the next four years.

“We can accomplish that goal if we keep steadfast to our countywide commitment to prioritizing low-income housing,” Burney said.

Thurston County Commissioner Carolina Mejia called attention to the county’s 2024 point-in-time homeless census in her remarks. That census found 864 people were experiencing homelessness the night of Jan. 25, although officials acknowledge that number is an undercount.

“Think of that, 864,” Mejia said. “Lotus Court responds to this challenge, providing not only housing but also vital on-site services to help residents rebuild their lives.”

LIHI operates Lotus Court as well Unity Commons, an adjacent building that was completed in 2022. LIHI previously referred to Unity Commons as Martin Way Phase 1 and Lotus Court as Martin Way Phase 2.

Unity Commons has 65 permanent supportive housing units for people experiencing homelessness as well as a ground-floor shelter operated by local non-profit Interfaith Works.

Deacon Construction was the contractor for Lotus Court, and Encore Architects designed the building. The project was financed by Raymond James, a tax credit equity investor, and JP Morgan Chase as an investor and construction lender, according to the news release.

Other funders include the State Housing Trust Fund, Thurston County, City of Olympia, Housing Authority of Thurston County, Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, The Home Depot Foundation, Banner Bank, HUD, and Washington State Housing Finance Commission.

What is the building like?

The Olympian toured the first two floors of Lotus Court on Wednesday. The first floor has a community room with a kitchen, a central laundry room and mailboxes. Additionally, there are offices for case managers and a property manager.

The upper floors contain the apartments. There are 40 studio units and 24 one-bedroom units. However, some of the studios are called “super studios,” meaning they have a bedroom without a window.

Each room has minimalist, contemporary stylings and comes furnished with essentials, such as a bed with sheets, drawers and small tables. The kitchens come with a stove, a microwave, refrigerator and common kitchen ware.

The stoves are pressure sensitive, meaning they only turn on if there are pots or pans resting on the induction coils. There also are fire suppressors installed above the stoves.

LIHI says Lotus Court has “green features” such as permeable asphalt and on-site filtration, water conserving plumbing fixtures, energy-conserving light fixtures and native or adaptive plant species.

The outside of the blocky building is largely gray and white with some colorful accents, so it complements the similarly styled Unity Commons.

The building also features various murals spread around the bottom floor façade. Esteban Camacho Steffensen, an artist who has lived in Costa Rica and Oregon, created the murals.

Who can move in?

Lotus Court accepts single people, couples, military veterans, low-wage workers and people living with disabilities, LIHI says.

The apartments are expected to be affordable long-term. Seniors will pay 30% of their income for rent and rent subsidies are provided by the Housing Authority of Thurston County.

Area manager Tessa Radovanovich said LIHI started screening applicants in August and the building is about a third full now. They hope to fill the building by the end of the month.

“We’ve moved in a lot of people who’ve been living in their cars for years, so that’s always rewarding,” Radovanovich said. “That’s why we’re doing what we do.”

Among the new residents is Ellen Supplee, a 65-year-old woman who attended the grand opening ceremony. Supplee said she moved in on Sept. 27. Before that, she said she had been living unhoused for nearly seven years.

“I heard one time that the worst part of being homeless is the uncertainty and oh boy does that resonate with me,” Supplee said. “Just the uncertainty of absolutely every single thing every day. Am I certain that I can have enough food to eat today? Am I certain that I can have a place to park where I’m not going to be chased away?”

Living at Lotus Court means Supplee can now be certain she’ll have many important needs met, she said.

“I can be certain that I can have a private place where I can shut out the world when I want to,” Supplee said. “I have terrible social anxieties and horrible claustrophobia. So, living in a closed-in car, feeling like I’m in a fishbowl with everybody observing every part of my life was so agonizing for me.”

The experience affected her mental health, and Supplee said she had to take more medicine while she was living in her car. After moving into Lotus Court, she said she’s getting ready to begin titrating her dosage down.

“So not only do I have certainty that I can have time to myself, I have certainty that I can find a friend to talk to when I want to,” Supplee said. “I have certainty that I am now part of a community.”

Supplee used to live on a five-acre farm in south Thurston County, she said. One day, she said she fell and suffered a “couple really bad broken bones.”

She spent the next three years getting ankle surgeries and working as a caregiver on crutches and knee scooters.

Supplee said she eventually lost her home when she couldn’t make enough money to pay her mortgage. For a time, she said she lived in an “expensive, nice motorhome” until the electrical system fried.

Supplee downsized to a leaky trailer, but she said she found it difficult to find a place to park so she kept it in storage. She said she later moved into her car with her two dogs. Meanwhile, she said the leaky trailer became so moldy she had to get rid of it.

She turned to the county’s coordinated entry system, which helps connect people to housing assistance based on need. She waited on the list about 22 months and followed “every single rule,” she said.

“I did everything that I was supposed to do and it’s only because of this wonderful, wonderful, wonderful organization (LIHI) that I have a home,” Supplee said. “I have a home.”