Construction is underway in Seattle on an 80-unit housing project planned to help people leave homelessness. It is designed specifically for Native Americans and Alaska Natives. They are over-represented in the population of people who are homeless in that city.
The building will include space to provide traditional supports for the residents, including a health centre and café serving traditional foods. A community agency that has a long history of assisting American Natives is leading the project.
The building joins a handful of other projects in the United States that have been specifically designed and built to help Native Americans and Alaska Natives to leave homelessness. These peoples have experienced multiple and unique forms of discrimination for generations. Recovering from the trauma of these experiences is rarely a matter of simply moving to housing. Treatment and support programs that reconnect people with their heritage, as are planned in Seattle, have met with success.
This article will be of interest to anyone interested in creating programming that supports indigenous people on their journey to leave homelessness. Read more about the ʔálʔal project, at Bloomberg City Lab: As Homelessness Rises in Seattle, So Does a Native American Housing Solution
