Seattle's largest tiny house village opens in South Park with 90 homes. Here are the Council votes that cleared the way

Cloverleaf Village, a 90-unit tiny house village in South Park, opened Tuesday, KOMO reported. The Low Income Housing Institute, which runs it, calls it its largest tiny home development. Each 8-by-12-foot unit is insulated and has heat, air conditioning, electricity and furniture. The site has a community kitchen, 10 bathrooms, laundry, case management offices and a dog run, and is staffed around the clock.

The village is at 9128 10th Ave S, on land leased from a private owner, the West Seattle Blog reported. The first two residents have moved in, and the city's Human Services Department will refer people until it fills, according to the blog.

It matters beyond South Park because it is a test of Mayor Katie Wilson's plan to add shelter quickly, and of whether the Council will pay for the next round in the budget it is writing now.

How it was built and who pays

• The city announced it had signed a lease on the South Park site on May 7, with $3 million from Challenge Seattle, a group of large employers, according to the city's release. KOMO reported the village received nearly $2.8 million in Shelter Accelerator Fund grants, a joint effort of the city and Challenge Seattle with help from Seattle Foundation.
• About $3 million in private money paid to set the village up, and the city funds ongoing costs, the West Seattle Blog reported.
• A Community Advisory Committee of neighbors, business owners, faith leaders and others will meet monthly. City code requires such committees for these sites, according to the mayor's office's March briefing to the Council.
• Wilson spoke at the opening, as did former Gov. Christine Gregoire, who leads Challenge Seattle. "Cloverleaf Village isn't just 90 tiny houses," Wilson said, according to KOMO.

What our records add: three bills from this spring

Wilson's shelter push came to the Council as a three-bill package. Our records show:

CB 121195, bigger sites. Seattle's land use code had capped transitional encampments, the legal category for tiny house villages, at 100 people. This bill, sponsored by Dionne Foster, raised that cap on an interim basis for sites using tiny houses or vehicles. According to a Central Staff presentation, the version introduced set a new limit of 150 and allowed one site of up to 250. It passed 9-0 at the May 19 meeting after the Land Use and Sustainability Committee recommended it 5-0.

CB 121184, bigger leases. It let the Finance and Administrative Services director sign leases for encampment sites up to 65,000 square feet, up from 18,000, and at market rent, according to the fiscal note. Sponsored by Dan Strauss, it passed 7-0 on April 14.

CB 121185, the money. It moved unspent money from the Downtown Health and Human Services Account and federal block grant funds in the Low-Income Housing Fund into shelter. Also Strauss's, it passed 7-0 on April 14. Council amendments asked for a September report with a financial plan for 4,000 new shelter units, a public safety plan with monthly reporting, at least one shelter for people in recovery and two for families with children, per Central Staff.

District 1's Rob Saka, whose district includes South Park, voted yes on all three. Robert Kettle and Maritza Rivera were not recorded on the two April votes and voted yes on May 19.

The city's May release said the city signed the South Park lease, and CB 121184 is the law that sets how large a site the city may lease for this use and at what rent. Our records do not show the site's size or lease terms, and the Council does not vote on individual sites.

The next round is in the budget

The mayor's 2027-2028 budget includes a $37 million, two-year shelter package. Wilson's plan aims for more than 400 new units by the end of this year and nearly 1,000 by the end of 2027, KOMO reported. Kettle told the station he does not think the money is at risk but expects amendments that attach conditions to it. Saka is proposing a purpose-built shelter for veterans in West Seattle.

For more on the plan, see Mayor Wilson takes the Pioneer Square homelessness pilot citywide and Strauss wants to restore Unified Care Team cuts.

What's next

• Thursday, Oct. 29: councilmember proposals for the Human Services Department, where the shelter package sits, are presented at the Select Budget Committee.
• Nov. 4: Budget Chair Strauss's balancing package.
• November: Glassyard Commons, with 72 RV spaces and 20 tiny houses on 2nd Avenue SW in West Seattle, is on track to open next month, LIHI's executive director told the West Seattle Blog.