<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2LUTDE_0m7gfsYE00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2LUTDE_0m7gfsYE00" width="1920" height="1080" ><p>VANCOUVER, Wash. — Vancouver's <a href="https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/vancouver-safe-stay-community-homeless-shelter/283-c118e93b-1f3d-40dc-9dd9-63a40f343d4c">second Safe Stay Community,</a> Hope Village, celebrated its one-year anniversary Friday. The transitional housing site provides basic shelters for homeless people who would otherwise be living on the street.</p><p>The village rests along East Fourth Plain Boulevard on city-owned property. Inside, resident Jodie Kizer was happy to be there. She has been off the streets for two months.</p><p>“I'm celebrating all these great, wonderful people. Look at them...everybody here, it's like a family, totally,” said Kizer.</p><p>It was a day to celebrate what's been happening at the village for one full year. The evident smiles were for the successes that come when people who want to get out of homelessness are given a chance; with a tiny home and a lot of support. </p><p>Hope Village is part of the city's <a href="https://www.cityofvancouver.us/cmo/page/safe-stay-community">Homeless Response Plan</a> and is operated onsite by nonprofit Living Hope Church.</p><p>“Everybody treated me like family from the second I got here. I instantly felt welcomed, and I’m new to the whole homeless game," said John Wittner, a current resident at the village.</p><p>Wittner and his wife are close to being able to rent again after living in this <a href="https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/vancouver-first-safe-stay-community/283-af2aecdf-3cb4-4787-bb44-7e608a1e846f">Safe Stay Community</a> for the past eight months.</p><p>The site offers 20 temporary modular shelters capable of holding two people each, although most residents are single with a unit to themselves.</p><p>“This is my lounge," said Micha Thompson. “And you know it's been put together the way I want it, the way I like it.”</p><p>Thompson celebrated being here after spending five years living in his truck.</p><p>“My life [is] a lot less chaotic. And just the people here alone, and just listening to their stories, it's completely worth being here,” he said.</p><p>The anniversary event included a barbecue lunch, a birthday cake and a visit from Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle.</p><p>It's been delayed, but a third Safe Stay Community in Vancouver is expected to open by summer. </p><div style="position:relative;width:100%; height:0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/voCJjlvFySc?rel=0" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" style="width:100%; height:100%;top:0; left:0; position:absolute"></iframe></div></div></body>

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Vancouver's second Safe Stay Community celebrates 1st anniversary: 'It's like a family'

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Vancouver's second Safe Stay Community, Hope Village, celebrated its one-year anniversary Friday. The transitional housing site provides basic shelters for homeless people who would otherwise be living on the street. The village rests along East Fourth Plain Boulevard on city-owned property. Inside, resident Jodie Kizer was...