LIHI to name MLK Family Housing after Melinda & Clifford Nichols

LIHI is proud to announce that its MLK Family Housing will be named for longtime LIHI Board President Melinda Nichols and her husband, artist Clifford Nichols. The project is currently under construction in Seattle's Othello Neighborhood with completion expected in August.

Nichols Court will provide affordable workforce housing located at 7544 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S., close by the Othello light rail station in Seattle’s Rainier Valley. This 6-story building will provide 148 units of affordable housing for families and individuals and an early learning center operated by Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA). The building will include a mix of studios to three-bedroom apartments. The housing will serve families and individuals earning up to 50% and 60% of the Area Median Income, including those at risk for displacement. On-site amenities will include a large community room, play area for children, fitness center, resource room, and an outdoor courtyard. The ReWA early learning center located at street level will include six classrooms for over 100 infants, toddlers and preschoolers. The property’s zip code of 98118 is considered the most racially diverse in the city.

Melinda Nichols & LIHI

Melinda Nichols supervising a volunteer team of women in the construction trades in 2018 as they build out Whittier Heights Tiny House Village, a village exclusively for women experiencing homelessness.

Melinda Nichols first met LIHI ED Sharon in the late 90s, during her time working at the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department, where she served variously as Apprenticeship Program Manager, Director of Facilities, Director of Human Resources, and Manager of Shops and Natural Resources. Sharon was serving on the board of the Parks Levy Oversight Committee. They recognized in each other a kindred, energetic, tenacious spirit of public service. In 1999 Melinda was asked to join the LIHI board where she has served in various positions, and currently as Board President.

Melinda's career began in 1972 as a carpenter's apprentice. Women were a rarity in the field at the time and Melinda has devoted much of her life to giving women, people of color and the underprivileged opportunities to learn the construction trades. She worked for the State of Washington as a construction instructor and manager of State Apprenticeship programs. She has served as a national expert consulting with governments and Native American tribes on apprenticeship programs and served as an instructor at ANEW (Apprenticeship & Non-Traditional Employment for Women).

She brought this experience and her carpentry skills to bear at LIHI by founding LIHI's Tiny House program. In 2013 LIHI was hosting a Nickelsville tent encampment on a Central Area property that would become Ernestine Anderson Place. Melinda was adamant that we could provide better shelter than tents and organized the construction of simple tiny houses for the campers. From there, she helped refine the program with more sophisticated tiny house designs. With her passion for apprenticeship programs, working with former LIHI boardmember Rev. Lawrence Willis, they created a program for Seattle Vocational Institute (SVI) and other pre-apprenticeship programs for students to build tiny houses as part of their coursework. The students gained a meaningful and satisfying experience of using their new skills to build tiny houses that would immediately be used to provide shelter for people who had none.

Melinda said: "Every human being deserves support. It appears that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. I want to protect the people who need help and give opportunities to people to learn and earn fulfilling and good paying work."

Melinda Nichols, Rev. Willis and Sharon Lee at an SVI build

Melinda & Clifford

Melinda and Clifford presenting wooden artwork carved by Clifford to Mel Sheldon (center), Chairman of the Tulalip Tribes Board of Directors, thanking the Tribes TERO apprenticeship program for building tiny houses that were placed at Othello Village (now the site of Nichols Court) and Georgetown Village.

Back in the days when she herself was an apprentice carpenter, Melinda met and soon married carpenter, instructor and artist Clifford Nichols. She says he is the kindest man she ever met. Clifford is a member of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and has always been interested in art and works both in wood and fabric. His work has been shown in museums and galleries throughout the Northwest and Southwest. He has made and donated many of these items to LIHI's auctions.

Art by Clifford Nichols

We are thrilled to honor and celebrate Melinda and Clifford Nichols by naming Nichols Court after them. LIHI has flourished under Melinda and the Board’s leadership. Melinda’s dedication in moving people out of tents into tiny houses, and her determination to see thousands more affordable housing get built, continues to guide LIHI’s work in addressing the housing crisis.