Vision House

RENTON -- The man President Bush wants to end homelessness in the United States touted Vision House in Thursday as a national model for doing just that.

Philip Mangano, executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, toured the transitional housing in the Highlands and then visited the new Vision House Children's Village a short walk away.

Vision House is possible, he said, because it's a collaboration of public and private agencies and faith-based institutions. It's a theme that Bush has repeated in his social programs.

``This is the symbol of that kind of collaboration,'' said Mangano. He said that no single government or agency can do the job alone.

Wednesday night in Seattle, he spoke at the national convention of HomeAid, a national organization dedicated to building transitional housing for the homeless.

Vision House receives some federal rent subsidies, but has not received any federal grants, according to Anne Snook, its program supervisor.

The local HomeAid Master Builders Care, a philanthropic program of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a four-plex in Kirkland and a housing project in Seattle, as well as Vision House.

Much of the material and labor -- about 60 percent -- for the projects are donated by builders. About 100 suppliers and subcontractors -- many of them competitors -- are working on the first building at the children's village. Connor Homes has donated the labor, a contribution estimated at about $782,000.

``It's everyone in the community who is involved,'' Mangano said of the children's village, which will house 11 families and a child care and educational center.

Mangano was joined on his tour by Renton Mayor Kathy Keolker-Wheeler, who is leading the drive to raise about $6.4 million for the children's village. The campaign has $2.2 million to go.

Keolker-Wheeler said the effort to end homelessness in King County is a little Seattle-centric.

Homelessness is an issue in the suburbs, she said, but it has a different face than in Seattle.

``You see more women and children,'' she said. The families live in cars or couch-surf with friends.

``The kids get into a downward spiral because they aren't in school,'' she said.

``The goal here is to get the family stable,'' she said.

In the two years before they moved into Vision House, Andrea Knutson and her children lived in seven places. Now, she has her own three-bedroom apartment, kitchen and common area she shares with another family.

Her children are in school and she plans to study nursing at nearby Renton Technical College.

``My life has never been better,'' she said.

Dean Radford covers Renton. He can be reached at dean.radford@kingcountyjournal.com or 253-872-6719.