NATIONAL STORY SEATTLE DESIGN FESTIVAL FILLED LAKE UNION PARK, AUG. 20, FOR THE BLOCK PARTY THAT OPENED A WEEK OF EVENTS CELEBRATING THE THEME OF “CONNECTION” THROUGH DESIGN. CREDIT: TREVOR DYKSTRA/FLICKR. MODELING A NEW HOUSING METHOD, WITH THOUGHTFUL DESIGN BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD ON A CLEAR DAY LOOKING OUT FROM THE PARK at the southern end of South Lake Union with its low, arching water feature and the gleaming former naval warehouse that is now the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI), you’ll see the impressions of the Cascades, made hazy by their deceptive distance. On one such day, a sunny August weekend that had attracted the usual crowd of kayak practitioners, dog walkers, and wooden boat fans, Denise Henrikson stood next to a model of a terraced hillside set with small, wood boxes representing homes and handmade cardboard trees. It was pointed across the lake and toward the mountains: If proportionally tiny denizens lived there, theoretically, they could enjoy the view. Henrikson and the model were there for the Seattle Design Festival, a celebration of innovative ideas and a future that could be. She and the organization she cofounded, EcoTHRIVE, have had a place at the Design Festival for the past two years. In fact, several of the design professionals who have since joined or otherwise worked with EcoTHRIVE discovered the organization there. During that time, Henrikson and co-founder Susan Russell, a former Real Change vendor, conceived of, planned, and began the slow work of creating the community represented by the model: a sustainable, intentional village in the truest sense, born out of a sense of joint responsibility and legal ownership. CREDIT: TREVOR DYKSTRA/FLICKR. 8 DENVER VOICE October 2022 This could be the year, however, that the village morphs from cardboard and paste animated by dreams into wood and nails, constructed by hands and framed by that gorgeous mountain view. By the end of the year, EcoTHRIVE hopes to purchase a plot of land in Burien. If it closes that deal, it will be the site of a village of 26 homes — ranging between 350 and 650 square feet — and shared communal spaces. Residents will have to make a percentage of the area median income (AMI) — hopefully close to 40-50% AMI, Henrikson said — and will buy a share in the limited equity co-operative, creating an affordable home ownership model that guarantees that the unit will continue to be affordable to the next potential purchasers in perpetuity. Unlike “traditional” affordable housing, residents must income qualify to enter, but not to stay. The ownership model means that if their life circumstances change, they aren’t forced to give up their home or relationships with neighbors. “If you own it, there is no disincentive. If you get a better job, you get a better job and you have more money,” she said. The idea began as an art project. Russell envisioned art as a way to break down barriers between housed and unhoused people and “to replace fear with love.”
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