From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
On Monday, Vancouver and Washington state officials gathered alongside community members to celebrate the grand opening of Caples Terrace, a new public housing project offering affordable units to young adults who have aged out of foster care or fallen into homelessness.
Christina LaCelle, 20, could barely contain her excitement. She and her 3-month-old daughter Vivianne were just weeks away from moving into their very first apartment at the new complex.
“I could cry I’m so excited and really grateful for all of this,” LaCelle said.
LaCelle spent most of her childhood bouncing between different foster homes in Washington. Earlier this year, she found herself in a bad situation: pregnant and on the brink of homelessness. With the help of her former foster family in Battle Ground, she moved back to Clark County. She is set to move into Caples Terrace next month.
“It’s all about my daughter now,” LaCelle said. “I want her to be safe and in a good place and grow up in a way that I didn’t.”
The 28-unit rent-subsidized building is a first for the Vancouver Housing Authority, in that it targets a specific population. The housing caters to young adults between the ages of 18 to 24 who are aging out of foster care or experiencing homelessness, plus their families.
“How are they going to make it when they don’t have a safety net?” asked Roy Johnson, executive director of the Vancouver Housing Authority, the agency behind the project. “So that’s what we wanted to look at providing."
Read Oregon Public Broadcasting's article "Vancouver Opens New Housing For Homeless Youth, Teens Aging Out Of Foster Care," featuring the Vancouver Housing Authority.