ʔálʔal is officially open!
ʔálʔal - Home
Building Sacred Space in Seattle
The face of homelessness is as varied as each individual story. Native people enduring homelessness are far more likely to successfully stabilize their lives if they are in culturally appropriate and community-oriented housing.
Today, Native Americans face the highest poverty rate of any racial group in King County. Of the 12,000 homeless people in the County over 15% are American Indian or Alaskan Native.
ʔálʔal is a place for our urban Native relatives to connect and find stability, a space designed by Native people for Native people. ʔálʔal (“Home” in Lushootseed) is a landmark housing project located across from the Pioneer Square Link Light Rail Station featuring nine floors of housing, health care, and social services for over 2,700 people annually including 88% low-income and 93% American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN). Overall, 15% of homeless , 27% of unsheltered (people living outside or in vehicles), and 32% of chronically homeless are AI/AN.
Read below to see ʔálʔal in the news!
The completed exterior of ʔálʔal features layered Native designs in the brickwork, from the rain above to canoes in the water below.
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From Indian Country Today
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Affordable Housing.
80 studios on seven floors for households at/below 30% of Area Median Income, with 60 units designated for homeless households and 10 units for veterans.
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Café & Art Gallery.
A neighborhood community space and storefront will leverage Chief Seattle Club’s successful vocational rehabilitation and social enterprise projects, Native Works & Sovereignty Farm. The ʔálʔal Cafe will open to the public later this year.
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CSC Expansion.
The new building provides more space to accommodate expanded services, case management staff, job training facilities, and education.
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Primary Care Health Clinic.
Seattle Indian Health Board, a federally qualified health center, will occupy one floor with six exam rooms and a pharmacy to serve 1,200 patients annually. The clinic will officially open later this year.
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Gathering Spaces.
Each floor includes a gathering area for residents to congregate. Many chronically homeless Natives feel isolated after moving into housing due to living outside communally for years, and we are intentionally designing spaces to foster community.
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Private Meeting Spaces.
Four small meeting rooms will provide a space for confidential meetings with case managers and members.
Executive Director Derrick Belgarde receives the keys to our newly completed housing, ʔálʔal.
To solve Seattle’s housing crisis and Native homelessness, we must invest in Native-led solutions.
Providing affordable housing for our Native relatives is about more than just one building. It is about re-establishing trust — building community, nurturing stability, mobilizing Native people for jobs, and healing intergenerational trauma. It is about honoring Native history, customs, and traditions. It means creating sacred space where all Native people have access to the best health care, and a home.
Click here to read the story that inspires the design of the Grandmother Frog Welcome Figure at ʔálʔal!
Let’s build ?ál?al together!
Join us in building housing and community for the people whose land was stripped from their ancestors.
Together we can make a difference.