Compass Housing Alliance breaks ground on Nyer Urness House

The rain held off for the official groundbreaking of the Nyer Urness House.

The Nyer Urness house is named after Reverand Nyer Urness, the Compass Housing chaplain from 1989-2006. “He had a gift in seeing the best in everybody in whoever God happened to put in his path,” recounted Pastor Erik R. Wilson Weiberg of Ballard First Lutheran. “And knowing the track record of Compass Housing, I’m very confident that Nyer Urness House will bear not only the name, but the spirit of Nyer.”

The seven-story facility at 1753 NW 56th St will house 80 formerly homeless individuals. It will be staffed 24 hours a day with NeighborCare operating a clinic 20 hours each week on the first floor of the facility. A number of churches have committed to donating quilts for each bed and Jody Grage with Sustainable Ballard will be spearheading the knitting group to make sure the residents are warm.

We first wrote about this Compass Housing Alliance (formerly Compass Center) project in 2008. More than three years later, after being tied up in court, they’re finally breaking ground. “It feels great!” Rick Friedhoff, the executive director of Compass tells us. “It’s a start. Today is a good day. Fourteen months from now will be a great day!”