After an apartment fire left them homeless, Allison Simon and her husband Mark Rowe took refuge where they could — shelters, churches and eventually a friend’s home, but it was a volatile situation.

“The journey was up and down, really all over,” Simon said, “three nights here, two nights there.”

It was exhausting, and the stress sent her to the hospital.

During her hospital stay, Simon learned that her application for an affordable Mercy Housing Northwest apartment in South Seattle had been approved.

“That really, really relieved my fear,” she said. “My prayers were answered.”

When Simon left the hospital, she and Mark went directly to their new home, where they were welcomed with hugs and gift baskets.

“I needed a place of peace and hope. Mercy Housing gave me that,” Simon said.

It wasn’t just a roof over their heads, but a community that became a family, she said.

Mark Rowe and Allison Simon pack food boxes for distribution to fellow residents at Mercy Othello Plaza and members of the surrounding South Seattle community. (Photo: Courtesy Mercy Housing Northwest)

During her three years living at Mercy Othello Plaza, Simon led cooking classes with youth and families and raised money for an after-school program to help students graduate from high school. At age 63, she enrolled in college, the first of her 11 siblings to do so, received a scholarship and is studying social work. She now sits on the Mercy Housing Northwest board.

Although Simon and her husband recently moved from Mercy Othello Plaza to be closer to his medical care, she still feels a connection. “My heart is greatly embedded in the residents and services,” Simon said.

In the 30 years since local congregations of women religious founded what is now Mercy Housing Northwest, thousands of families have found affordable homes with supportive services to help them thrive.

“It’s not just about building buildings” — it’s about creating partnerships and relationships, said St. Joseph of Peace Sister Charlotte Davenport, a former executive director of the organization and now a member of its board.

The vision: ending homelessness

The seeds for Mercy Housing Northwest were planted at an intercommunity housing conference in 1990, when the sisters learned that children represented nearly a third of the more than 56,000 homeless people in the state.

“Research pointed to a stable home life for a child to reduce their risk as a teen,” Sister Charlotte said.

Eighty sisters agreed to collaborate on a vision of developing permanent, affordable housing with supportive services for children and families.

The founding communities were the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, Sisters of Providence, Tacoma Dominicans and Edmonds Dominicans (now the Adrian Dominicans). The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary joined in 1995, becoming the fifth founding community.

They “dreamed we could end homelessness with services for families and children,” said Adrian Dominican Sister Judy Byron.

Holy Names Sister Georgia Yianakulis, left, and Adrian Dominican Sister Judy Byron are members of the women religious communities that founded Mercy Housing Northwest. Both site on the organization’s board. (Photo: Stephen Brashear)

As small, local congregations, the sisters were always collaborating and asking, “What can we do together that we can’t do alone?” Sister Judy said. “We looked around to see who we could partner with, who had resources and expertise.”

They found Mercy Housing Inc., started in 1981 by the Sisters of Mercy in Omaha, Nebraska, who shared a similar vision and mission.

The local sisters created Intercommunity Housing (later called Intercommunity Mercy Housing, then Mercy Housing Northwest), an affiliate of the Omaha organization.

With no experience developing properties, the sisters had a lot to learn.

“It was all a new world to us,” Sister Charlotte said. “We were raising money, talking to banks. … It was what we had to do.”

Sister Judy recalled the early days, when receipts were kept in a shoebox and the sisters did everything from choosing properties to picking out carpet.

 In 1993, the sisters completed their first housing developments, Family Tree in Everett and Evergreen Vista in Olympia. Today, the nonprofit organization owns and operates 50 properties in Washington and Idaho for families and seniors, giving more than 6,000 people a place to call home. In Western Washington, properties are found in communities including Tacoma, Mount Vernon, Centralia and Lake Stevens. New projects opened recently in Seattle and Vancouver, and the first project in Oregon is slated to begin construction soon.

The congregations of women religious provide ongoing financial support for the organization and have representatives on the board of directors, helping keep the focus on the founding mission and core values of respect, justice and mercy. They also volunteer in the housing communities and reach out to donors.

Kids play at Sterling Meadows Apartments in Bellingham. (Photo: Stephen Brashear)

 ‘The best part is the kids’

The majority of Mercy Housing properties offer optional on-site services for residents, focused on five key areas: housing stability, financial stability, health and wellness, out-of-school time and community involvement, according to Allison Rollison, the organization’s director of philanthropy and strategic partnerships.

Those services “become anchors for the folks that live there,” Sister Judy explained.

For children and youth, services include tutoring, homework club and recreational activities. Early learning centers, operated by partner organizations, will be included at some of Mercy Housing’s newer properties, Rollison said.

When Sister Judy talks about the Mercy Housing children in their caps and gowns at preschool graduation or enjoying a cool treat on a hot day, she smiles and wipes a tear.

“To me the best part is the kids,” she said. “If we could give kids a stable home, they could have a good life.”

In 2021, her community, the Adrian Dominicans, granted $1.5 million to Mercy Housing to bolster out-of-school time programming. The funds will go toward an on-site early learning center at Barkley Family Housing in Whatcom County, as well as expanding K-12 education programming at eight properties, serving up to 1,000 children and youth annually.

Mercy Housing Northwest’s success with kids can be seen at Sterling Meadows Apartments in Bellingham, which provides affordable housing for agricultural workers and their families.

From 2013-2020, the on-time high school graduation rate for teens there averaged 98%. Some 40% of participants in the Sterling Meadows after-school program went on to higher education and two people entered master’s degree programs this fall, according to Lindsey Karas, resident resource manager.

Rolando Gonzalez celebrates his high school graduation with his parents. He was the first in his family to attend college. (Photo: Courtesy Mercy Housing Northwest)

Rolando Gonzalez, now a senior at the University of Washington, credits his success to Sterling Meadows’ staff and the after-school program he attended from elementary through high school. He not only received tutoring in subjects like chemistry and calculus, but the program also helped him navigate applications for college and financial aid, and the stress that came along the way.

“At Sterling Meadows, we all grow and have the opportunity to be doctors, engineers, teachers, policemen and policewomen, and so much more,” Gonzalez said in a graduation speech.

Gonzalez was the first in his family to attend college; his sister has followed and two brothers in high school are still participating in the Sterling Meadows program.

The “goal is to serve 100 percent of the youth” at Sterling Meadows, where 84 school-age children and teens live, Karas said.

After earning his college degree, Gonzalez plans to teach or be a counselor. “I was very fortunate to receive a lot and I want to give back,” he said.

Moving the mission forward

Sister Judy remembers being overwhelmed when thousands of people applied for the 108 units at Mercy Othello Plaza, which opened in 2017.

“Although homelessness continues, I am still hopeful,” she said.

As Allison Simon told Sister Judy, “You ended homelessness for me and many of the residents,” giving them hope and a brighter future.

The success of Mercy Housing Northwest “speaks to the business genius of the founding sisters,” Rollison said.

She calls the sisters innovative, stewards, investors and champions. They don’t “toot their horn,” she said, but “believe in the mission and doing whatever they can to support it and continue to move it forward.”

In a 30th anniversary letter, the sisters wrote: “The gift of what we started is all the people who joined us along the way. We believe our initial role was to plant the seed, provide a vision for the future and empower others to join us in continuing the mission.”

Mercy Housing Northwest “started so small,” said Holy Names Sister Georgia Yianakulis, a board member. “It was the vision, and the Holy Spirit, heading the sisters in that direction.”

Northwest Catholic — October/November 2022