Jennifer Polley, left, and Mark McHugh, of the Hope Housing Collaborative of Lewis County, smile for a photo with a sign at the future site of the Shalom Village project outside of Harrison Square Presbyterian Church in Centralia on Monday, Nov. 4.
Kody Christen / kody@chronline.com

By Mitchell Roland / mitchell@chronline.com

Sitting in his office, Mark McHugh, pastor of Harrison Square Presbyterian Church in Centralia, said at least a half dozen members of his congregation have experienced homelessness in the past year.

The issue, though, is often hidden behind a veil of secrecy.

“We worship together every Sunday,” McHugh said. “You might not always know that that person is homeless, but they are.”

Part of the issue, he said, is a gap in the county’s housing supply, which can make it challenging for people to escape the cycle of homelessness or avoid it altogether.

“There’s so many in our community that are one missed bill away from eviction,” McHugh said.

For more than two years, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Gather Church, Chehalis United Methodist Church and Harrison Square, among others, have discussed how to combat the issue and reach this vulnerable population. The result, Shalom Village, will soon be Lewis County’s first transitional housing facility.

“This is a fundamental call of Christians to be involved in this kind of housing justice in our life,” McHugh said. “And our collaborative really believed in that.”

Located at 1227 Harrison Ave. in Centralia, the privately funded village will be built on land donated by Harrison Square. The name, Shalom, is Hebrew for “wholeness” and a “full sense of vitality and peace,” McHugh said.

“So it’s this bright theological idea, and it has a lot of dimension to it,” he said.

When completed, the high-barrier shelter will include a community building with an office, kitchen, meeting room, bathrooms and showers, laundry facilities and storage. The village will also feature six duplex micro-cottages that will include a bed, desk, a window, heating and cooling and storage space.

McHugh projected the community building could open in fall of 2025, with the cottages opening to residents the following year.

“It will allow people to have a safe place to lock up their stuff,” McHugh said, “which is something a lot of us take for granted.”

Each unit will be single occupancy, and the project will not be open to outside visitors. Community members will also be expected to follow a code of conduct, and a system will be in place to potentially remove residents. The project will have a part-time site manager and case workers to assist residents.

Residents will live in the village for nine to 12 months. During the planning process, the collaborative studied similar facilities in Western Washington, including Hope Village in Olympia. The project was started by Harrison Square’s sister church, Westminster Presbyterian Church, and is similarly high-barrier.

“Hope Village has had zero problems,” Jennifer Polley, a member of the collaborative, said. “And we will be following their model very closely. It’s been wonderful.”

The collaborative has raised $165,000 in donations and has an additional $35,000 pledged. McHugh estimates the collaborative will need to raise $120,000 to complete the project. Those interested in donating can visit hopehousinglc.org to do so.

“Some of the questions that immediately come up are, ‘how are you going to pay for it?’” McHugh said. “Who's going to build it? Is this going to be something that’s going to be safe for our neighbors?”

As part of a school project, the construction class at Centralia High School will build the community building, with plumbers, electricians and drywall installers helping to complete the structure.

Local attorneys, accountants, engineering firms, lumber suppliers and other contractors and businesses have also offered to provide their services for free, too.

“This community has just such a rich history of pulling together and helping,” Polley said. “The number of places that are donating stuff to this village, or offering to help … It's Lewis County. It’s the way people come together around here and help out.”

According to McHugh, some in the congregation, and surrounding businesses, were initially skeptical of the idea, which prompted church-wide discussions of homelessness and how the project could help.

“We had a congregational vote at the end of it that was almost unanimous to support it,” he said.

In one session, church leaders presented the project to the mom of a child who attends the nearby daycare. The parent, McHugh said, was concerned about how close the project would be to the daycare.

By the end of the discussion, which covered the project’s code of conduct, rules and other requirements of the facility, the parent had a single question.

“How do I give money to support it?” McHugh recalled.

With help from local businesses, collection of churches to build Lewis County’s first transitional housing village - The Chronicle