FORKS — Hobucket House, designed for permanently disabled, homeless veterans, is now in place and awaiting finishing touches.
The seven-bedroom, six-bathroom group home on Ash Avenue is located across from Sarge’s Place, a shelter for homeless veterans.
Like Sarge’s Place, it is the brainchild of the North Olympic Regional Veterans Housing Network (NORVHN).
“This all came to be because we had three veterans die in the Sarge’s Place shelter of diseases caused by Agent Orange exposure as well as COPD-related health issues,” said Cheri Tinker, executive director of NORVHN.
When they were diagnosed, questions arose as to what to do, she said.
“These people are at the end of their life. We’re not going to move them out of our shelter, so we cared for them,” she said.
That made it clear to her and to the board that NORVHN needed “to have some kind of housing that would honor these veterans in the last stages of their lives,” Tinker said.
“So, it’s not assisted care living, it’s a group home, but the seven-bedroom house will be able to allow people to age in place and be able to live there in dignity.”
A Quileute family blessing and open house for the place is planned at 1 p.m. April 20.
Veterans are expected to begin moving into the group home in late May.
The home, which cost more than $1 million, is named for the late James Hobucket, a Vietnam War veteran who died in 2015. He was a founding member of NORVHN in addition to being a Veteran of Foreign Wars service officer and Quileute Warrior.
Apart from its name and purpose, the Hobucket house is unique in how it was built.
The stilt foundation house was built in Auburn in September and transported to Forks in segments in late January. The modular pieces were parked for two days before a crane came from Seattle to place it in its current spot on Ash Avenue on Feb. 2.
“It’s the coolest but the weirdest process,” Tinker said.
The truck drivers who delivered the Hobucket House to Forks came out early to map the drive and identify tight corners or other obstacles, she said.
“The most that they (truck drivers) were concerned about were a few of the bridges because they had such a low clearance,” Tinker said. “But they build these modules in a way that they know they are going to fit in most places.
“It was just wild watching them lower it very slowly into place. We have a video of it on our YouTube channel,” Tinker said.
There are still some finishing touches that need to be completed before the house is ready for veterans to move in, such as new flooring, interior trim, a trussed roof, and furniture and supplies for the kitchen, laundry room, bathrooms, bedrooms, dining room, computer room and living room.
Each veteran will have a separate room while they share communal spaces such as the kitchen and living room. Rent will be no more than 30 percent of the veteran’s monthly income.
The bulk of the funding for the project has come from a state Department of Commerce Modular Funding grant.
NORVHN was one of only four agencies in the state to secure this funding, receiving,$876,293.
The remaining funds to cover the cost have come from other organizations such as the Quileute Tribal Trust Fund, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Clallam County CARES grant, Wells Fargo, First Federal Community Foundation, Simperman-Corette Foundation, Norman Archibald Charitable Foundation, Operation Oliver H. Row, Military Officer Association Olympic Peninsula Chapter, as well as individual donations from private donors.
NORVHN is still seeking funds to purchase new beds, linens, towels and furniture for the house.
A wish list is available on Amazon at https://a.co/2C4s1uh, or a check can be mailed to Hobucket House, 250 Ash Ave., Forks, WA 98331.
The trusses arrived a few days later and have since been placed on the roof.
