For the people deciding where to send someone
If you are a community corrections officer, a case manager, or a provider in Whatcom County, you have probably been burned by a housing referral before. So here is what we actually provide, what we do not, and what the building is held to — in enough detail that you can judge whether a particular person belongs here.
A furnished room in a sober house, with someone on site
- A real bed, furnished
- The room comes with furniture and linens. Nobody arrives to an empty floor and a list of things they cannot afford yet.
- Keyed access, at any hour
- Residents hold a key and can come and go around a shift schedule. This is housing, not a facility with a front desk.
- A live-in house manager
- Someone lives on site, knows who is home, enforces the rules, and is reachable when something goes wrong at ten at night.
- No more than two to a room
- 7 people in a 4-bedroom house, and never more than 2 sharing a bedroom.
- Fees disclosed up front
- Rent and any other charge are stated in writing before a resident signs. There are no fees that appear later.
- A tenancy, with rights
- Residents are tenants under the Washington Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, not programme participants who can be removed at will.
We are the housing. You are still the case plan.
We do not do treatment, we do not do clinical assessment, and we do not manage anybody's supervision conditions. Pretending otherwise would put us between you and your client, which helps nobody.
What we will do is tell you the truth about how a resident is doing in the house, promptly, and cooperate with the conditions you have set. If a placement is not working, you will hear it from us early rather than at the point of failure.
One structural note that matters for compliance: the house manager who enforces the rules does not administer housing assistance funds. We keep voucher administration away from anyone in a reporting relationship with residents.
Four steps, and a straight answer at each one
You call or write
Tell us who you are working with, their release timeline, and any condition we need to know about. We will tell you whether we have a room and by when.
We screen against our criteria
We apply our own written eligibility standards on top of the state’s. If the answer is no, you get a reason and you get it quickly.
The address gets approved
The state investigates and approves the placement address through its normal process. We handle our side of that paperwork without you chasing us.
Move-in and contact
Your client moves into a furnished room. You get the house manager’s number and a named contact at Project Homeward, and we stay reachable for the length of the stay.
TODO(content): confirm and state our current Department of Corrections housing vendor status before launch. Until the vendor process and the statutory local-jurisdiction notice are complete, the number of voucher-supported residents the house may take is capped by state rule — say so plainly here rather than leaving referral partners to discover it.
We would rather refer to you than build a worse version of what you do
Treatment, employment services, benefits enrollment, legal aid, healthcare, recovery support, transport. Our residents need all of it and we provide none of it. If you run one of those services in this county, a partnership is straightforward: we make sure people have a stable enough address to keep the appointments you offer them.
- What we bring
- Residents with a fixed address, a curfew, a sober environment, and someone on site who notices when a person stops showing up for things.
- What we ask
- A named contact on your side, a realistic picture of your capacity and waitlist, and a warm handoff rather than a phone number on a leaflet.
- What we will not do
- Duplicate your services, compete for your funding, or represent your programme’s outcomes as ours.
- On-site access
- If it helps your clients, providers are welcome at the house. Meeting somebody where they live removes a bus ride and a missed appointment.
Start a conversation
A referral, a partnership, or a question about capacity. If it is time-sensitive, please call rather than write.
Questions or concerns about a Project Homeward house in your neighborhood go to Sam Cooley at Calyx Foundation directly, not to a form queue. We answer within one business day.