I am writing this review with a heavy heart and a sense of desperation. The Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) has failed us in ways that have left our family and many others feeling hopeless and abandoned.
Living conditions at the LIHI properties are deplorable. For weeks, we have been without a manager in the office. Our urgent maintenance requests have gone unanswered, leaving us to live in unsafe and unhealthy conditions. Our bathroom exhaust vent is a fire hazard, and a persistent leak under our sink is causing damage to the unit below. The laundry room reeks of urine and feces, making it unusable and posing serious health risks.
Despite reaching out to the Public Health District when LIHI failed to address a rodent infestation, no action has been taken to resolve these critical issues. It feels as though our maintenance requests are being ignored out of spite, simply because we sought help from public health authorities. This neglect is not just frustrating; it is dangerous.
The situation is further exacerbated by blatant mismanagement and discrimination. The regional manager openly favors certain residents, neglecting to enforce rules uniformly. Even more distressing, this manager has threatened to evict tenants based on their disability, race, or simply for voicing complaints or requesting maintenance. This atmosphere of fear and intimidation has silenced many tenants who are now too afraid to speak up.
The presence of open drug use and crime in our community further jeopardizes our safety. As low-income residents with a young child, we are heartbroken and desperate. We cannot afford to move, despite the dire conditions we are living in. We need a safe and healthy environment, but it feels out of reach.
This is one of Seattle’s most impactful homelessness charities perhaps third only to Plymouth Housing and Catholic Housing and maybe Mary’s Place. These folks tackle the hard problem of quick housing - and spring up villages of 30 + tiny homes with a care team and communal bathrooms and showers and kitchens . We’ve donated for 3 years and been personally to see and visit a 30 house village on Yesler. We donated equipment for 30 homes that people wanted - simple things like wheeled clothing racks and coat hangers . The set up was superb and the residents clearly happy to be out of sleeping bags and tents. We need to have 100 lIHI villages to ready people to then enter Plymouth Housing permanent long term care housing . But a Lihi house is only $3k and a Plymouth apartment is closer to $250k . Both are necessary . Well done LIHI . Fund them please if you read this . Dave and Angela McCann, Donors .