Reliable Enterprises showed off seven new low-income units this week that will soon become homes to seven previously homeless families in the area.
Reliable Enterprises held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon Wednesday to mark the completion of the final portion of a 30-unit low-income housing project aimed at supporting local families in the Centralia School District.
The event took place at the new housing facility located at 2213 Harrison Ave. in Centralia.
The units are the final addition to the local nonprofit's newest affordable housing complex, which it refers to as Reliable Homes II.
The ribbon-cutting event included refreshments and tours of two of the newly available units.
Reliable Enterprises Executive Director Andy Skinner spoke briefly before the ribbon cutting.
According to Skinner, the nonprofit broke ground on the last seven units in November and is currently vetting families to fill them. The families are found through the coordinated entry process, which performs outreach intended to connect locals with housing or other essential needs and resources.
Coordinated entry in Lewis County is operated by the Coastal Community Action Program.
Families must currently be homeless to qualify for the new units and they must have children who are, or will be, enrolled in the Centralia School District.
The complex also includes case management services from Reliable Enterprises to provide additional resources to the families.
The program works closely with the Centralia School District to verify student enrollment and later on to provide other needs for the students housed there. Skinner thanked the Centralia School District administration during the ceremony for their help in supporting the students now living in the complex.
"They have been integral in this process as well, making sure that we can get families housed, that we can stabilize them here in their home lives,” Skinner said. “We’re really trying to make sure that we meet the needs of our families here.”
The new complex includes six two-bedroom units and a three-bedroom unit as well as a common room for families who live in the complex. The two-bedroom units will be rented out for $530 a month, including all major utilities and internet, but not electricity. The three-bedroom unit will be rented out at $711 a month.
According to Skinner, that rent will remain relatively the same but may change year to year depending on the costs of local utilities.
The new units were originally planned to be built at the same time as the other 23 buildings in the Reliable Homes II complex, but, according to Skinner, cost overruns and rising prices that hit the market during the COVID-19 pandemic meant the nonprofit was only able to complete the first two buildings. The nonprofit announced the opening of the original units back in December 2023.
The 30-home complex also shares a parking lot with the original large-scale housing complex built by Reliable Enterprises, which they refer to as Reliable Homes. It houses 35 families or individuals in one-bedroom apartments, according to Skinner.
The seven units of the Reliable Homes II complex were funded by a $2.75 million grant from the Washington state Department of Commerce, which comes from the Washington state Housing Trust Fund. The grant program supporting the project is intended to support projects that serve residents making 30% or less of the median area income in some cases.
The first 23 units were funded through an $8 million grant also from the Housing Trust Fund through the Department of Commerce.
Learn more about Centralia-based Reliable Enterprises online at https://reliableenterprises.org.
