Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Rural Resources hopes for month-end opening
DAVENPORT — A safehouse for domestic violence victims at Willow Ridge will be open soon if everything goes to plan, according to information given at a tour of the complex by representatives from Rural Resources on Wednesday, April 6.
Willow Ridge, which has been the topic of some debate and legal discussion in the past three years, was transferred to Rural Resources from Family Resource Center at the end of June 2022. Four buildings sit on the property inside city limits. Two contain three low-income apartments, one contains shelter for the homeless and one is set aside as a safehouse for domestic violence victims.
Three families that were tenants at Willow Ridge under Family Resource Center remain there under Rural Resource ownership, program manager Cruze Thompson said.
The low-income apartments and homeless shelter are currently occupied by five families and one single individual, but the safehouse that was built in 2008 hasn’t been operational for three years, including since Rural Resources acquired the property.
Rural Resources hopes that will change soon, Thompson said.
“We’re hoping (to open) by the end of the month,” he said at a Wednesday tour given to Lincoln County Commissioners Rob Coffman and Jo Gilchrist and The Record-Times.
The safehouse features four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a hand-washing station. Up to four people can fit in a bedroom depending on the age of children staying, Thompson said.
Most housing items in the safehouse, including a dishwasher, beds, three refrigerators, dressers and other household items are holdovers from Family Resource Center. Rural Resources purchased a fourth refrigerator.
The safehouse has a communal kitchen, garage and backyard, along with a dining area and living room.
“It was definitely in better shape than we expected,” Thompson said.
He said a television and lawn mower was stolen from the property, but other items were still intact when Rural Resources took ownership.
Rural Resources is still awaiting an improved pipe system, functional Internet and needs a working washer and dryer system for the safehouse, Thompson said.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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