Eleven months and 10 days - that's how long it has taken to launch the "Dove House" project certain to change lives forever.

The Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Program of Jefferson County (DV/SAP) has completed a $2.1 million fundraising campaign to create the transitional housing facility.

"We are just very excited," said Cheryl Bozarth, DV/SAP executive director for nearly three years. "This is the realization of a vision and dream for our community."

The project has received two grants totaling $887,952 from the State of Washington Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, and the Housing Trust Fund and Community Development Block Grant. The City of Port Townsend supported the applications.

The state funding was the final key, Bozarth said.

"This means that the project is fully funded," Bozarth said Monday. Community supporters raised $250,000.

"We think the speed of the campaign shows that individuals, corporations, foundations and our state government understand the serious needs in our county," she reported.

Dove House will provide four units of transitional housing for people recovering from domestic violence, in addition to strengthening DV/SAP's existing services. It will be the only transitional residence specifically for survivors of domestic violence and their children in Jefferson County.

Dove House is not the program's confidential "safe house" for DV/SA victims. "We are maintaining our confidential facility," Bozarth noted.

Next step

Land has been purchased at the corner of 10th and Cleveland streets, near Jefferson Healthcare Hospital. Donated money made the $149,000 purchase possible, noted Bozarth.

The project has already gone through predevelopment talks with city officials, and now it's headed into final design and the city permitting process.

"The way is pretty clear at this point," Bozarth said.

The hope is to have a general contractor selected for a groundbreaking ceremony in October or November. The facility could open in late 2009.

Project goals

The DV/SAP offices have been located in Uptown Port Townsend for 16 years. The program operates an emergency shelter with 12 beds where client stays are limited to a maximum of three months. After that time, a client may be transferred into the Haines Street Cottages, also with a three-month maximum stay.

The emergency shelter previously averaged 802 bed nights per year; now it's more than 1,500 bed nights per year. The overall need for DV/SAP services has risen 32 percent since last year, Bozarth said June 30.

But when the DV/SAP staff successfully helps clients break the chains of domestic violence, the clients still need a place to reestablish their lives in a transitional phase. The gap has always been the transitional housing.

Affordable housing is a "crisis" in Jefferson County for people of many income levels, but especially for those who find their lives and often their jobs disrupted by domestic violence.

How it works

Transitional housing is for people who are fleeing domestic violence, who have made significant progress in self-sufficiency plans, and who are no longer in imminent danger from their abuser.

Office space would be downstairs in the two-story building, with four residential units upstairs: a one-bedroom unit, a pair of two-bedroom units, and one three-bedroom unit.

Families would pay below-market rent and benefit from having the comprehensive onsite support and referral services. Jefferson County residents would have priority.

The new facility would have a two-year maximum length of stay. Some people might need only six months, Bozarth noted.

Most victims have children, but the one-bedroom unit is for the single woman or the occasional man who needs help.

DV/SAP clients typically don't have an income level that allows them to pay local rents. Clients might have bad credit or not enough time to get a better job that allows them to correct their credit, Bozarth said, and the transitional housing would give them a chance to rebuild.

About one-third of the clients who enter the program's emergency shelter could transition into Dove House, Bozarth said.