Homeless housing to open in Ballard

This old boarded-up home at 1753 NW 56th St. (map) is slated to be turned into a facility for the chronically homeless.

The United Way of King County says it has purchased the property along with the City of Seattle for the Compass Center to build a facility with 60 housing units for the homeless. It’s the first of three or four purchases that will add 150 to 200 units in the city. The United Way spent $800,000 for the land and the city used $1.2 million from the Seattle Housing Levy. The project is just in the beginning stages, but the United Way says that once the facility is up and running they plan on providing support services for the residents. We’ve contacted the Compass Center to get more information on the project and will update the story when we hear back. (Thanks Bryan for the tip!)

Adds Amy in comments: “I am an employee of the Compass Center and a resident of Ballard for 10 plus years. We never portrayed it as anything other than it is, a place for single homeless women to reside on a transitional basis (12-24 months) with counseling and support. We will demolish what is there now and build a new structure where people experiencing homelessness will reside and receive services. If any of you have any question as to how we help people develop community or what our projects do to property values, I encourage you to call us and tour our women’s program in the Cascade neighborhood, our Veterans program in Shoreline, our men’s program in Pioneer Square, our Family Program on 1st Hill, our day center in Belltown or any of our other 10 programs.”