If you’ve ever driven down Broadway Avenue, just north of downtown Spokane, you might overlook Walnut Corners. It’s the red apartment complex above Indaba and across the street from Salem Lutheran Church.
“Most people don’t notice that we are low-income housing because we don’t look like we’re low-income housing—and that’s what we want for our clients,” says manager Tami Thomas. “We want them to feel at home, and home doesn’t have to look like it’s low-income housing and not taken care of.”
Walnut Corners, a nonprofit supported by local Lutheran churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Churches of America (ELCA), is more than just a roof for nearly 300 residents, including about 50 children. “They want to have a home and a place to belong. This is their place to belong for now, until they’re ready to move on and get the hope that they need,” Tami explains.
Many residents come from tough circumstances, previously living on the streets, in shelters, or sleeping on someone’s couch. Walnut Corners offers not just housing, but a community. “We have people from all different walks of life, here temporarily or permanently. We want to communicate with them that this is a home and a safe place for them to live, where they haven’t always had a safe place.”
Keeping Walnut Corners safe and affordable is a challenge, especially as living expenses rise. That’s where a grant from Avista’s Named Communities Investment Fund (NCIF) has made a real difference.
NCIF is an Avista grant program created as part of it's Clean Energy Implementation Plan (CEIP). It provides a total of up to $5 million annually to projects, programs, and initiatives that directly benefit Washington electric customers who are members of Named Communities*.
“The grant from Avista helped us put in new windows and new heating and air conditioning for our clients, which made it more energy efficient and comfortable for them,” Tami says.
The upgrades have had a tangible impact. “My residents will tell you it’s a lot quieter. Broadway is really busy, and the quietness is a lot better for people,” Tami shares. “And the residents are happy about seeing the lower energy cost for them.”
For many, those savings mean the difference between paying the energy bill and buying groceries. “The less money they have to spend on energy, the more money they have to help take care of themselves. For us, that’s a tight struggle, especially with today’s economy,” Tami says.
With Avista’s partnership, Walnut Corners continues to be a place where people can rebuild, find community, and move forward.
*Named Communities are populations that are most often disproportionately and negatively impacted by environmental change, due to unemployment, housing and food insecurity, income inequality, and other factors.
Named Communities include: