We are getting close to move-in day for JJ House. By the first of April, extensive renovations to JJ House will been completed and inspections are happening.  Creating homes like JJ House is good business. A 2013 study showed that for every young person who ages out of foster care, taxpayers and communities pay $300,000 in social costs like public assistance, incarceration, and lost wages to a community over that person’s lifetime. This costs the US $8 billion in social costs every year. For those of you who are working with us to change lives, this enterprise is a win for individual lives and for the community as a whole.

Yesterday we met with Tacoma City Councilman, Keith Blocker, and Tacoma Housing Authority Executive Director, Michael Mirra. We are working together to solve what Mirra described as a full-blown youth housing crisis. In fact, the foster care bed shortage is greater in Pierce County than King County. Kids are being sent out of state. This is an ‘All Hands On Deck’ moment. Stay tuned and stay connected as we get ready for move ins at JJ House and position ourselves to help solve this human crisis. Are you in?