The 40-unit townhouse community sits on the 1.5 acres off 38th Avenue that Longview Presbyterian Church donated to the local housing authority.

The congregation instigated, encouraged and worked with housing and city officials to plan and permit the development. It agreed to allow use of the church parking lot for supplemental emergency access.

Church members have invited residents for Thanksgiving dinner, supplied bedding and furnishings to some of the residents, and are about to begin baking classes in the project’s community building.

Since opening in June, the cluster of compact, crisply constructed blue and white townhouses has become a home to 94 people. Twenty-three of the 40 households were homeless before moving in, having lived in cars, on the street, couch surfed with relatives or taken refuge in shelters such Hope Village and Community House.

The $17.4 million effort emerged from a government/church/private partnership that fulfilled a dream that began with the Presbyterian congregation in 2019. It has won praise as a collaborative and creative way to shelter and repair the lives of homeless people and address the area’s critical shortage of affordable housing.

“This was a very long process for our church. We had that 1.5 acres a long time, and we didn’t feel like we would have the amount of growth in the congregation that would make us need that property,” said Robert Mumford, who led the church committee that oversaw the donation and the project.

“Our church is pretty dedicated to social justice issues” and had allowed homeless people to park in its lot, Mumford said. ”We knew the need was out there.”

The project was built and is owned and maintained by Housing Opportunities for Southwest Washington (HOSWWA). If was financed by the Washington State Department of Commerce, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) dollars, City of Longview (using COVID relief money), Cowlitz County, PeaceHealth, and others.

U.S. Bank put $9.8 million into the project in exchange for using the investment for tax deductions over 10 years.

“Sunrise Village will be in place for 40 years (before needing renovation) and each of those years more people can be served. Over time we will serve hundreds and hundreds of people with this project,” said Jennifer Westerman, CEO of HOSWWA.

“Having the church connection is a unique part of it. People really want churches connected to these public projects,” Westerman said.

Blending in

Sunrise Village does not look like “a project" — the disparaging term often used for developments of its kind.

The angular townhouse design fits the neighborhood. The grassy and curbed landscaping is minimalist but manicured. Before Sunrise Village arose, some surrounding residents voiced concerns it would blight the neighborhood. But it is a clean and cheerful-looking place.

“The neighborhood has calmed down about it. They see a a beautiful place that is handled well,” Mumford said.

The complex has an outdoor play area, an on-site laundry room, community/event room, manager’s office and case manager office. Any resident can access case management services, according to HOSWWA. Each unit contains a full-sized kitchen and bathroom. Water, sewer, garbage and electricity are included in the rent, although much of the electrical energy is generated by rooftop solar panels.

Rents range from $858 a month for a single-bedroom unit to $1,500 for a three-bedroom. Most residents pay with help from federal housing vouchers, and no resident pays more than 30% of their income. Five or six are TANF beneficiaries — Temporary Assistance for Needy Families — the official name of the federal welfare program.

Half of the units are reserved for those earning less than 30% of the area’s median income — or $25,650 for a family of three — and none earn more than 50%, Westerman said. Sunrise Village has mandatory federal quotas for apportioning its units among seniors, victims of domestic violence and families with children.

Ten of the households have working members, employed in places such Walmart, a laundromat and as caregivers.

HOSWWA opened up applications for housing at Sunrise Village in April and received about1,000 applications, a number that speaks to the need for affordable housing in the area, HOSWWA officials say.

Applicants undergo interviews and background checks. Meth manufacturers and lifelong sex offenders are excluded, as are applicants who staff determines could pose health and safety risks to other residents.

The first resident moved in early July, and the project has been full since October.

Each resident has a unique story

Cherrie Curtis, 67, was one of the lucky applicants. She’s a diabetic with myriad health problems that confine her to a wheelchair. She lost her Highlands neighborhood rental home after cancer claimed her husband, a paratransit driver, and her landlord evicted her so he could renovate the two-bedroom home.

Living off a widow’s social security benefit, she couldn’t afford market-rate rent. “I had no place to go. I couldn’t live on the streets,” Cherrie said.

She lived at Community House on Broadway but moved into a one bedroom townhouse at Sunrise Village shortly after it opened. A caregiver visits five days a week, and there is plenty room to maneuver her wheelchair.

“I love it. I feel comfortable and confident here. I know that if I have a problem I will be taken care of,” said Cherrie, who’d had a heart attack a couple weeks before the interview. “I believe in prayer. A lot of prayer went into this. I was pleasantly surprised” to land a unit.

Sunrise Village has given a new outlook to Hannah, a domestic violence survivor and mother to a 16-year-old boy and 8-year-old girl.

She and her daughter lived at the Emergency Support Shelter for three months after leaving a home in Castle Rock because the father of one of the children became mentally and physical abusive. Her son lived with relatives during that time.

Hannah, 36, said she suffers from PTSD, depression and anxiety, attributing them in part to growing up in a unstable household. For an interview, she was dressed in a tie-dyed T-shirt, with her hair bound in a pony tail. She fidgets and constantly adjusts her black-rimmed glasses. She undergoes counseling at Columbia Wellness.

Hannah said she worked in the food service department at PeaceHealth/St. John Medical Center for two years before she was let go for declining a hospital-mandated COVID vaccine. She also worked as a convenience store clerk and in the kitchen of a convalescent home.

Living in Sunrise Village three-bedroom townhouse has given her confidence to rebuild her life, she said. HOSWWA staff are helpful, particularly Breanna Pfeifer, the site manager, Hannah said.

“She’s awesome. She makes me feel comfortable and happy that I’m here. I do feel more positive and able to do things.”

Hannah has applied to be a para-educator for the Longview School District. Her daughter attends school at nearby Mint Valley Elementary, and her son attends Kelso School District’s online academy.

“I feel like I can step out of my comfort zone and try new things that I may not have tried before and stop living paycheck to paycheck,” Hannah said.

Moving into Sunrise Village, she added, “Is an adventure. But it’s good.”

Another resident, 63-year-old Julie Gardner, was blind when she moved into Sunrise Village, said Pfeifer, the site manager.

Gardner had worked a mill job and lost site in one eye as a result of a fall from a ladder, said Pfeifer, who told Gardner’s story with her permission. Through conflicts with her family, Gardner became homeless, then lost sight in her other eye.

No eye doctor would operate while she lived in an unstable condition, Pfeifer said. She lived two stints at Hope Village and also spent four months in the hospital psychiatric ward. In her wanderings around the community, she’d often stumble and once got into a conversation with a tree, thinking it was a human, Pfeifer said.

Since moving into Sunrise Village, Gardner has undergone two procedures that have restored vision in one of her eyes. She is again eligible to get a drivers license.

Immense need for housing

Residents can live in Sunrise Village as long as they meet the income criteria, obey the rules and the law and pay the rent, said Katie Bonus, director of HOSWWA operations. They must keep the homes clean. Each unit is subject to twice-annual inspections.

No one has been evicted do far. HOSWWA would rather work with someone than force them out. Landlord/tenant rules make eviction cumbersome and expensive, Bonus said.

“We give them a lot of chances.”

HOSWWA, which owns or manages 24 rental properties with 545 units in Cowlitz, Lewis, Wahkiakum and Pacific counties, “does encourage people to try to move on,” Bonus said. It’s affordable housing project in Woodland — the 38-unit Lilac Place — sees about five vacancies open up annually. Sunrise Village may see that much annual turnover, Bonus said.

The area’s need for projects like Sunrise Village and other housing models is immense. The state Commerce Department estimates that Cowlitz County will need 10,000 additional housing units by 2044 — 4,000 of them for low-income households earning less than 30% of the county’s median income.

Housing affordability is a major issue here and nationally. It is considered one of the principal drivers of homelessness. Poll after poll show` that it is a major concern of young adults, particularly when it comes to home buying.

Buoyed by the success of Sunrise Village, HOSWWA is deep into planning its next, major affordable housing project in Longview. Work on the 74-unit Landing at Goldfinch Grove townhouse community, at 5317 Ocean Beach Highway, will start next fall if HOSWWA finishes lining up $31.4 million to pay for it.

About $4 million for that project will come from the 0.1 housing sales tax — a penny on a $10 purchase — that the Longview City Council adopted in 2024. An attempt to scuttle it and replace it with an identical tax to support law enforcement failed.

Some members of the public have attacked the cost of these efforts. One citizen told the City Council recently that it would be much cheaper to put mobile homes on donated land.

Aside from ignoring the costs of roads and other infrastructure, putting up cheap buildings or mobile homes “is not a long term solution” because they do not last, said Westerman, the CEO of HOSWWA.

Grant terms and regulations and other factors make building affordable housing more expensive, she acknowledged. But wave after wave of tenants will live in Sunrise Village and improve their lives there, she said.

“We’re trying to build something the community can be proud of rather than throw up a bunch of cheap boxes.”

Obstacles to creating — and retaining — a stock of affordable housing could come from cuts and policy changes the Trump Administration has made or is proposing. Housing voucher programs have been cut, for example. But this is a complex issue, and there are some gains the White House endorsed, such as the extension of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.

It pays to check out a report by the Enterprise Community Partners, led by former HUD secretary, Shaun Donovan.

Conservatives in this community who oppose using tax dollars for housing often say government should not do the job of social service and religious groups. This is no place to debate the economic and political validity of that argument, except to say it is hard-hearted and that the need is far greater than these groups can meet.

It’s far cheaper to house people than to jail them.

It’s far cheaper to house people than to endure the crime and social upset, lost opportunities, and destroyed lives of that comes from living without stable shelter.

It’s far more humane and spiritually fulfilling to help the homeless than to treat them with scorn or neglect.

Churches in this community do plenty to support struggling people. The Vincent de Paul food bank, Family Promise housing project and FISH of Cowlitz County are just a few of the church-supported efforts that assist the needy. (See list of efforts to distribute free food, below. FISH partners with 18 churches in Longview and Kelso to give away food five days a week.)

Longview Presbyterian’s land donation, the spark that led to the dawn of Sunrise Village, sets a new benchmark and should inspire other efforts — not just to house people but to reach out to them on a personal level.

To Mumford, a retired social worker, frequent contact with the recent homeless is one of the best consequences of Sunrise Village.

“People don’t generally feel comfortable just talking to homeless people and asking how they are doing and learning information about their experiences.”

With the project physically completed, Mumford said, “Our mission has changed. We are now doing everything we can to support Sunrise village residents as they move in.”

Other sources of free food

South Kelso Neighborhood Association Food bank at Three Rivers Mall Saturdays 12-3 pm (350-747-7240

Faith Center Church Distributes free food and clothing every Thursday from 10am- 1pm. 1209 Minor Road, Kelso. (360-577-0620)

Kelso Resource Center. Clients should call for hours. It gives away clothing as well as food. The center is inside Three Rivers Mall, 341 Three Rivers Drive, Kelso. (360-747-7240)

Castle Rock Lions Food Bank Provides free food boxes every Thursday from 1pm- 2pm; 224 Huntington Street, Castle Rock. Must be a resident of Cowlitz County. (360-274-9723)

Kalama Helping Hand Free food, household items and clothing are available Tues and Thur 11am-2 pm; 191 Cloverdale Road, Kalama. (360-673-2814)

Woodland Action Center Free food and emergency clothing on Saturdays from 9am- 5pm; 736 Davidson Ave., Woodland. Must reside in Kalama or Woodland to get services. (360-225-9998)

WahkiakumFood Bank Serves residents of Wahkiakum County. Food pantry service hours are Tuesdays 3pm -5pm. Call to confirm it is open. (360-795-3553)

Salvation Army Self-serve food pantry; Mon, Wed, Thurs., 2pm- 4pm; 1639 10th Ave, Longview (360-423-3990.

These groups may do more at Christmas.

Love INC (360-232-8576) helps the elderly and disabled with yard work and small house repairs.

The Salvation Army (360-423-3990).

Homeless people needing services FISH can’t provide should call Love Overwhelming (360-846-0272).

Source: Bob Gaston, president of FISH of Cowlitz County