Council for the Homeless is happy to announce the opening of The Meridian, a 46-unit permanent supportive housing project in Clark County, Washington. The Meridian was built by the Housing Initiative, LLC, a CFTH subsidiary, and began construction in early 2021. The first two permanent supportive housing projects of the Housing Initiative, LLC are The Pacific and The Elwood. The Meridian features onsite services from our partners at the Vancouver Housing Authority and SeaMar-Community Services Northwest, allowing tenants to access resources each day. Services relate to their physical, mental, and behavioral health needs, assistance with activities of daily living, accessing employment or hobbies, and healing from the trauma of homelessness.

The apartments were designed with trauma-informed principles and take into account that tenants have experienced a variety of trauma in their lives, including homelessness. An example of trauma-informed design is easy access to both community spaces and private spaces. With their own apartment homes, tenants have both privacy and a supportive community environment. CFTH staff member Melissa Baker shares, “The Meridian is getting people off the streets that wouldn’t be otherwise due to lack of resources. The opportunity to have stabilization for such a vulnerable population is a huge gap filler. It’s really exciting to see”.

CFTH created the Housing Initiative, LLC in 2016 to build homes for people ending their homelessness who cannot afford to rent in the private market and need support managing life in their own home.

Take a video tour of The Meridian! Walk through the new building with the lead architect, Brendan Sanchez of Access Architecture, and two Council for the Homeless staff, Melissa and Adriana.

All tenants for the new building have been identified through the Homeless Crisis Response System coordinated entry process.