About 30 years ago, FUSION founder Peggy LaPorte visited a transitional house owned and operated by the Multi-Service Center. At the time, it was centered on clean and sober housing, and it became one of her inspirations when starting FUSION in Federal Way.

On June 12, a remodeled and refurbished version of that same home — called the Carpenter House — opened its doors to become the largest home in FUSION’s fleet of transitional housing for homeless families. The house is one of two donated by the Multi-Service Center to FUSION and was remodeled and refurbished through HomeAid Puget Sound, led by local company Lennar.

HomeAid Puget Sound connects “local builders, contractors and other stakeholders to provide safe and dignified housing solutions for individuals and families experiencing homelessness.”

Matt Jarrell is the executive director of HomeAid and said the Carpenter house feels like a “love letter to the city that raised me.”

“This city will give you so many wonderful experiences and memories that every child and every family deserves,” Jarrell said. “I wouldn’t be who I am today without Federal Way and I value the ability to give back to this community.”

The Carpenter project specifically is an opportunity for FUSION to provide housing for larger families. The house is 2,650 square feet and has five bedrooms, and FUSION stated that the home will “allow us to serve a wider range of family structures and open our door to particularly difficult-to-place families.”

“I know how beautifully diverse the city is and the overwhelming love and culture that run through the streets,” Jarrell said. “Federal Way is a safe place for people to get back on their feet to feel confident to feel support and ultimately find permanent housing.”

For this project, 17 trades came together under builder captain Lennar. The remodel was originally quoted at around $300,000, but between the trades, donations in labor and material, FUSION paid just 28% of that total.

Instead of paying for the project, HomeAid helped FUSION keep those dollars and put them toward their transitional housing program.

At the ribbon cutting June 12, awards were given out to the various stakeholders and companies who donated time, energy and funds to the project — and together, everyone was able to see the home for the first time.

Hope for a family

For the first family who will stay in this remodeled home, the opportunity to be the first to live in the Carpenter House is a blessing after compounding challenges that highlight issues within the housing and economic system.

The goal for families in FUSION’s programs is to “secure livable wage employment and a permanent home,” with support from wrap-around services after a six- to nine-month stay in a transitional home.

Keith and December have three children, and lost their housing despite both being employed and having enough income to afford an apartment. At the time of the ribbon cutting, all five of them were staying in a single room at FUSION family shelter, all while continuing to attend work and school and attempting to look for housing.

December said she was working a full-time job, doing freelance work as a consultant and going to school when the trouble started. She was laid off from her full-time job, and shortly after, the family’s lease on their $3,000-a-month townhome was not renewed.

As December and Keith began to submit rental applications — often paying an application fee and deposit each time — they received only rejections.

“I couldn’t find a place because we only had one income and they weren’t accepting my self-employment contract work, even though I had been reporting that to the government for years [through taxes],” December said. They knew they would be able to afford a place to live, but on paper, their income did not qualify and credit scores that were “not the greatest” didn’t help.

Her unemployment claim also took months to process, adding to the strain.

Eventually it got to the point where December said, “I can’t keep losing hundreds of dollars for the application fees and deposits.” While some deposits come back instantly, others can take months to be returned to applicants.

December said she is the kind of person who “always has a plan B, a plan C, a plan D” because she is a survivor of trauma herself. Somehow, all these back-up plans fell through. A health challenge requiring surgery in January just piled another challenge on top of their precarious housing situation.

“It comes down to the fact that they have these criteria that take people out of the box,” December said, adding that this is unacceptable for something that is a necessity like housing. “It’s not like I want a new motorcycle. It’s not like, ‘Oh, should I get a new bathing suit?’”

As a community, December said we need to ask ourselves how to balance the importance of a vital need like housing with the “respect of someone who owns a business, who’s trying to make profits with a basic need of society.” With those “added eligibility barriers on top of the market … it makes it just so unattainable … it’s more than just affordability.”

When the family is finally able to move into the Carpenter House, December said they are all looking forward to having the space to breathe and continue to move forward. Her children will have space to study, especially her oldest, who is only in high school, but is already attending college classes via Running Start.

Keith and December see the newly remodeled Carpenter House for the first time. They will be the first members of FUSION’s transitional housing program to live there. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / The Mirror

Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / The Mirror

Members of FUSION’s board applaud the ribbon cutting of the Carpenter House. The house is the largest to join a fleet of other homes that the organization utilizes in their transitional housing program. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / The Mirror

Matt Jarrell is the executive director of HomeAid. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / The Mirror

A scrapbook of thank you letters from FUSION program participants included this letter from a family thanking FUSION for their support and care. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / The Mirror