A local affordable housing complex recently got a nearly half-million boost in funding, thanks to Rep. Kim Schrier.

Shrier, who represents Enumclaw and Legislative District 8, visited the 16 YMCA-ran apartments on April 25 to see where the money will be spent and to talk to some of the residents.

The $490,000 grant, announced in early March, will help four of the apartments upgrade their siding, roofing, and windows. That may not seem like much, but these improvements will increase the lifespan of the units (and reduce patchwork repair costs) and increase energy efficiency, Shrier said in a press release.

This grant is part of a $12 million package the representative secured for projects all around her district, including the “Orting Bridge for Kids” project in Orting that helps students cross the highway more safely and a bridge replacement just outside Greenwater.

Christine Adkins, the administrative manager for Enumclaw Youth Center (which is also run by the YMCA), has managed what’s called the Enumclaw 4plex (built in 1983) off Blake Street for around 15 years.

What’s special about these units, Adkins said, is that these units are for low-income residents, “but about the only low-income housing that has amenities — as in washer, drier — in the unit.”

Additionally, the complex takes in people experiencing homelessness, and Adkins doesn’t have a time limit for when residents have to find another place to live; but in return, residents have to be “rent ready” and can’t apply for a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program when they leave.

During her tour of the 4plex, Shrier met with Abril Mitchell-Ward, a current resident who was previously living in different low-income apartment that she said was completely unsuitable for living — but it was what she, as a single mother of five experiencing numerous serious health issues — could afford.

“It was really, really a bad situation. When you talk about affordable housing, when you’re not linked to a system like this, you have to find the cheapest apartment that you can find,” she said in an interview. “The pipes kept busting, and flooding the apartments, and you know once it gets wet on the carpet, you get mold problems, and that wasn’t good for my house either.”

That was after she and her kids were homeless and living out of her car, and despite the poor conditions of her last apartment, Mitchell-Ward said it was a vast improvement.

Her family moved into her current apartment last November, right before Thanksgiving — which still makes her think of how fortunate she is, but how bad the housing situation is for people like her.

“Sometimes… I cringe. I really get hurt when I think about people that are still outside,” she said. “I’m happy that I got lucky, but something I think, what is happening to the people that didn’t get that chance?”

Despite their struggles, Mitchell-Ward was prideful of her children and how they handled their housing situation; she particularly mentioned her youngest daughter, who recently graduated high school with a 4.0 GPA and received a full ride to the University of Washington.

Coincidentally, she wants to be a pediatrician, which was Schrier’s profession before politics.

“Isn’t that like a God thing?” he said. “It’s full circle.”

Abril Mitchell-Ward moved into the Enumclaw 4plex last November, after experiencing homeless and an untenable living situation in another affordable housing unit. She met with Rep. Kim Schrier on April 25 to speak about her housing experience. Photo by Ray Miller-Still