Nickelsville’s Brighton Village returns to Seattle, adding 14 tiny house beds

Brighton Village returned to Seattle’s Rainier Valley with 14 tiny house beds on a 10,000-square-foot Seattle City Light parcel at 7112 Rainier Ave. S., turning a site that had been canceled into Nickelsville’s third tiny house village. The project sits at the corner of South Orchard Street and Rainier Avenue South, and the reopening gave the organization its first South End village since 2019.

The village is set up as a small self-managed community rather than a conventional shelter line. Residents will elect three representatives to help oversee daily life, and the village will operate with sobriety rules and volunteer shifts. The site includes a security shack at the entrance, a common kitchen tent, laundry facilities and three shared bathrooms.

Nickelsville first brought the idea forward in 2023, and Seattle canceled the project in August 2024 after neighborhood backlash. Public records later showed the permits had been pulled from the mayor’s office. On March 12, 2025, the Seattle Human Services Department told the King County Regional Homelessness Authority that Nickelsville could again explore siting a village on the Brighton property, and two days later Nickelsville had the go-ahead to resume work at the site.

Nickelsville said it collected more than 500 petition signatures backing Brighton Village, and at least 22 advocacy groups endorsed the effort. Nickelsville said it was “reservedly thrilled” after supporters sent petitions, calls and emails urging the city to bring the village back.

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has set a goal of 4,000 shelter units over her four-year term and 303 openings targeted for the summer.