ECOTHRIVE HOUSING
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Mission Statement
EcoTHRIVE Housing is a nonprofit working to create beautiful, affordable, resident-owned villages in King County, Washington that nurture community, human resilience and joy.
About This Cause
EcoTHRIVE Housing builds socially resilient, ecologically sustainable, cooperatively-owned community villages. We’re forming a Community Land Trust (CLT) to create pathways to resident-owned, limited-equity housing accessible to people earning low incomes, now and for future generations. We're a grassroots, multiracial, women-led nonprofit with a mission to create a beautiful alternative to the conventional housing paradigm. While housing affordability is the immediate crisis that drives ecoTHRIVE, our community-building approach addresses the deeper roots that underpin the crisis: - The deep need for equity and justice, particularly the need for racial justice in a society growing more unequal and fractured. - The intensifying climate crisis, which in our region is worsened by housing costs that drive low-to-moderate income people out of the city, away from areas well served by transit, driving up transportation emissions, the region’s largest source of carbon pollution. - The deep human need for connection: to ourselves, each other, and nature. Each village will include private living quarters with living/sleeping areas, a kitchenette and bathroom. Common facilities include a community kitchen, dining and living areas, shared laundry facilities, gardens and workshop, with potential for renewable energy production. Building small and green offers people with low incomes the full benefits of energy efficient, high quality construction. The villages will be designed to support creative work and economic activity for people who want to live in a creative community, grounded on principles of reciprocity. With resilience as a touchstone, these communities are designed to withstand the impacts of economic downturns, climate disruption, food insecurity and global pandemics. The vision of a Resilient Village emerged from our conversations with community members—at farmer’s markets, community festivals, local parks and homeless encampments throughout King County. We began each conversation by asking two questions: - What do you need to thrive? - What do you value? Through hundreds of conversations, responses consistently fell into two areas: - Things that feed the body—water, food, shelter - Things that feed the soul—art, beauty, community The vision that emerged is a Resilient Village that thrives in a culture of mutual aid, shared resources, interdependence and beauty. With resilience as a touchstone, these communities are designed to withstand the impacts of economic downturns, climate disruption, and food insecurity. As of November 2022, we have a 1.8 acre parcel under contract in Burien, WA, in a neighborhood with almost 2x the poverty rate of Seattle. Our site is in a transit-friendly neighborhood, across the street from parks and an elementary school. We're working through the City of Burien's Affordable Housing Demonstration Program to receive permitting approval to allow us to build a village of 26 cottages (ranging from studio to two bedrooms) plus a large, shared community center and other amenities such as community gardens and fruit trees. We've been approved for a $685,000 loan from the Housing Finance Commission to allow us to purchase the land at 1% interest, and are in the final round of approval for substantial funding from SKHHP (South King Housing and Homelessness Partners), and are pursuing other grant funding as well as legislative appropriations and construction loans. So far, so good! Our biggest request now is unrestricted funding to support our small, dedicated team who have worked tirelessly - some of us for years - to bring this beautiful vision for grassroots, paradigm-shifting, sustainable, community-led housing development to fruition. Your support and involvement means the world to us! If you'd like to learn more about our work, we hold monthly General Meetings that are open to the public. We'd love for you to join us! Please email us at hello@ecothrivehousing.org to introduce yourself and ask about upcoming dates. We use Sociocracy for our decision-making structure, which results in meetings that are lively, participatory, action-oriented, egalitarian, and lots of fun! If you've read this far, thank you! We deeply appreciate your interest, and are always happy to have a conversation. Please reach out anytime. In community, Denise, Zsa Zsa, Emma, and the team at ecoTHRIVE Housing. == “I express my full endorsement of the non-profit ecoTHRIVE Housing… It is clear that we need to create a healthy community for us all. One that allows everyone to fit in and thrive… They are going beyond just meeting the basic needs of housing. Rather, they are providing the building blocks for healthy living. EcoTHRIVE sees the interconnectedness between our relationship with the environment and each other.” – Rex Hohlbein