Travel Host Rick Steves Gifts $4M Housing Complex To YWCA
- 7 years ago
Travel expert Rick Steves has given a $4 million housing complex in Lynnwood, Washington, to the local YWCA.
Travel expert Rick Steves has given a $4 million housing complex in Lynnwood, Washington, to the local YWCA, KIRO.
He made the announcement recently on his blog in an entry titled, “Travel, Budget Beds, and the Homeless.” In it, he explains that he has long been an advocate for affordable housing.
As such, Steves writes, “Twenty years ago, I devised a scheme where I could put my retirement savings not into a bank to get interest, but into cheap apartments to house struggling neighbors. I would retain my capital, my equity would grow as the apartment complex appreciated, and I would suffer none of the headaches that I would have if I had rented out the units as a landlord.”
He then adds, “Rather than collecting rent, my ‘income’ would be the joy of housing otherwise desperate people. I found this a creative, compassionate and more enlightened way to ‘invest’ while retaining my long-term security.”
He says that his project eventually turned into a 24-unit complex, now named Trinity Place, which the YWCA calls a “transitional housing complex for homeless women and children in Lynnwood.”
The organization reveals on its site that the facility was launched in 2005 and has provided services including housing, child care vouchers, and educational assistance, among others.
According to KIRO, the building has been operating at high capacity levels since it opened.
Steves says he hopes his actions will inspire others to consider investing their retirement funds in a similarly helpful way.
Travel expert Rick Steves has given a $4 million housing complex in Lynnwood, Washington, to the local YWCA, KIRO.
He made the announcement recently on his blog in an entry titled, “Travel, Budget Beds, and the Homeless.” In it, he explains that he has long been an advocate for affordable housing.
As such, Steves writes, “Twenty years ago, I devised a scheme where I could put my retirement savings not into a bank to get interest, but into cheap apartments to house struggling neighbors. I would retain my capital, my equity would grow as the apartment complex appreciated, and I would suffer none of the headaches that I would have if I had rented out the units as a landlord.”
He then adds, “Rather than collecting rent, my ‘income’ would be the joy of housing otherwise desperate people. I found this a creative, compassionate and more enlightened way to ‘invest’ while retaining my long-term security.”
He says that his project eventually turned into a 24-unit complex, now named Trinity Place, which the YWCA calls a “transitional housing complex for homeless women and children in Lynnwood.”
The organization reveals on its site that the facility was launched in 2005 and has provided services including housing, child care vouchers, and educational assistance, among others.
According to KIRO, the building has been operating at high capacity levels since it opened.
Steves says he hopes his actions will inspire others to consider investing their retirement funds in a similarly helpful way.