First tenants move into Veterans Village

Nathan Beck spent nights sleeping in a tent next to the Shelton Walmart for six months, then two years inside the Community Lifeline shelter in downtown Shelton before moving into the new Shelton Veterans Village about six weeks ago.

Instead of contending with rats, rain and eviction threats, the U.S Navy veteran has a warm room with a bed, desk, chair, a small refrigerator and a bathroom. In the community building, he can cook food and has a storage space in a refrigerator.

"I haven't had any this stuff for three, four years," he said.

Beck, 63, is one of the first of 11 tenants at the village, which is built for 30. "There's a little magical bubble over this place," he said. The first resident moved in Oct. 11.

The nonprofit Quixote Communities operates the village on 13th Street across from Christmas Village. It features seven four-plexes, one duplex and a community building that includes a laundry room, two bathrooms, three offices and a boardroom. The group also has homeless villages in Orting and Olympia.

It took about six years to make the Shelton village a reality.

The nonprofit received a $1 million grant from the Washington State Housing Trust Fund for the project. But some residents told the Shelton City Council they feared the village tenants would pose a threat to children walking to the four nearby schools, and the elderly Christmas Village residents across the street. Debates centered on who would be allowed to live in the homes, the rules and supervision.

In the meantime, housing prices soared. The nonprofit changed the design from 30 tiny homes, like its village in Olympia, to its current format to save money. Then came the challenges posed by COVID. About 150 people attended a grand opening celebration in July.

Crossroads Housing oversees the waiting list and contacts Quixote about potential residents. Applicants must be a veteran, pass urinalysis and background checks, and make 50% or less of the Area Medium Income. Residents must also sign a code of conduct with their lease, which prohibits violence, weapons, drugs and other illegal behaviors. Residents pay 30% of their income in rent.

Quixote Communities partnered with the Washington Department of Veteran Affairs and local resources to provide village residents with transportation, case coordination, behavioral health services and life skills classes. The nonprofit states that it uses the Recovery Housing model, which provides a clean and sober living environmental its residents.

Beck, a native of Morton, was in the Navy from 1978 to 1980. He said he became homeless after leaving his job with Walmart in Lakewood in 2007. He joined a group of people camping in tents in state parks, including Ike Kinswa near Mossyrock. "It was good for a certain period of time."

The group found a property where they were allowed to live. But Beck said his fellow campers stole from him, including a Thanksgiving turkey he got from a food bank. "The rats came and literally chewed everything up," he said. "Everything went south for me."

He was living on Social Security and Social Security Disability payments.

Beck arrived in downtown Shelton with his clothes, a backpack and a sleeping bag. After using food stamps to buy groceries at Safeway, he walked up the hill to Walmart.

"I was looking for a place to camp," Beck said. He said he stayed there for six months, using public restrooms.

"Your money goes out the window when you're camping, trying to keep yourself warm and get something to eat," he said.

Beck said he wasn't asked to leave, until a property assets manager for Walmart told him to move along. A man who sometimes gave him money and supplies drove him the Community Lifeline shelter, where he spent the next two years. That's where he heard about the Shelton Veterans Village.

His first night in his own room "was great," he said. "I'm 100 percent grateful."

The tenants shared a Christmas dinner together in the community building, a meal cooked by one of the veterans.

"We all work together, we're all polite to each other."