To reach the city's newest, and largest, tiny home village by bus, you have to walk more than a half-mile from the closest bus stop. Sidewalks line only a portion of the road, and the thoroughfare lacks significant protected crosswalks. But at the site's grand opening, government officials who planned to speak parked in the few nearby spaces.
Cloverleaf Village, which opened in late October, includes 90 tiny homes for individuals and couples. The village, announced by Mayor Katie Wilson in May, offers case management and behavioral health services to help people transition to permanent housing. Residents share 10 bathrooms, a communal kitchen, and various gathering spaces. Pets are also allowed.
"I think this is what progress looks like," said Wilson. "Ninety chances for someone to come inside, and catch their breath, and find a new beginning."
Cloverleaf Village is a partnership among the Seattle Foundation; Challenger Seattle, which paid $3 million to lease the land the village occupies; the City of Seattle, which funds the operation; and the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI), which operates the village.
Sharon Lee, executive director of LIHI, says two people had already moved in, and officials hope the village will be filled by the holidays.
Although the tiny home village helps Wilson reach her revised goal of 400 new shelter beds by the end of 2026, the space faces numerous transportation and accessibility issues entering and exiting the village.
Cloverleaf Village sits in the center of an industrial area, next to a highway cloverleaf interchange. It's bordered by a freight shipper, a concrete contractor, and an appliance manufacturer. Alexis Diltz, senior communications manager for LIHI, says the site was chosen because it "provided an opportunity to create a village with substantial shelter capacity on a relatively short timeline."
Options for public transit are limited. The nearest bus stop for Route 132 is a half-mile away and lacks many safety features.
Residents can take Route 60 to the village, but the nearest stop for that line is roughly 1.3 miles away and involves crossing Route 99. Last year, the walk there would have been a half-mile shorter, but freight containers now block a portion of South Barton Street. According to Google Earth, the containers were installed after July 2025.
Diltz says LIHI "anticipates purchasing a shuttle van soon," which would be available to residents. The organization is "developing the schedule and routes" and will "incorporate participant feedback so that the services are responsive to their needs."
The walkability and transportation issues facing future Cloverleaf Village residents have long impacted people who live in South Park. A current community-led effort called Reconnect South Park hopes to address these and other livability concerns by either eliminating or redesigning the section of State Route 99 that runs through the neighborhood.
In Wilson's $9.1 billion budget proposal, there is a brief reference to Reconnect South Park, which states that the Office of Planning and Community Development will lead "planning and engagement efforts" for the project. The budget proposal contains no specific dollar amount for the reconnection project.
Wilson took no questions from reporters at Cloverleaf and immediately left the press conference after it ended.
But with Cloverleaf open, residents may have the opportunity to access the resources and assistance they need to transition into permanent housing. A speaker at the opening, who went by the name Turtle, recently moved into permanent housing after living in a LIHI tiny home. He spoke about the hope tiny homes offer.
"Your support didn't just build tiny houses," said Tyson. "You built the figurative scaffold that we all will be able to use to then build our own futures."
We're building a newsroom rooted in community, not corporate backing. Help us raise funds to hire our first-ever full-time reporter and grow our capacity to cover the South End. Donate today.