Valley Cities, an Auburn community behavioral health center, is spreading its wings with the Phoenix Rising project.

VC’s north Auburn campus soon will open 24 additional, single-resident-occupancy units for homeless young adults (ages 18-25) with the expansion project at the corner of I Street Northeast and 27th Street Northeast. Phoenix Rising is next to VC’s community health center at 2704 I St. NE.

Phoenix Rising combines supported housing, job training and services to help young adults transition from homelessness to independent living. By blending housing, case management and life skills, said Ken Taylor, CEO of Valley Cities Counseling & Consultation, the project centers on furthering the young adult’s education and providing life skills.

“We want people to come inside and acquire the skills that they need and begin a process of becoming clean and sober,” Taylor told the Auburn City Council at its Oct. 19 meeting. “Then we will help them move on as rapidly as possible and begin to do things that your children and my children have done, which includes sharing a residence with other people, acquiring those basic life skills that a lot of these folks, unfortunately, never got along the way.”

The project calls for the construction of two detached, 4,394 square-foot, single-story residential buildings with 12 units per building. The property has room for development of two additional single-story residential buildings.

The focal point, or hub, of the project is the Recovery Café, which will provide room for individual and group training, instruction and other services. The café is designed to be a 4,528-square-foot shared common space for young adults living in the residential buildings. It will be a roomy place where residents can gather for meals and participate in food service, barista and custodial services and job training, Taylor said.

“This is incredible that we are reaching out to this age group,” said City Councilmember Largo Wales. “Research out there indicates that our … youth are the hardest to bring back into the so-called fold, not being homeless. Youth homeless tend to be homeless for the rest of their lives, so focusing on this group I’m very, very excited.”

The project comes with the installation of a semi-pervious street, the first of its kind in Auburn, leading to the front of the new facility. Rain literally will drain through the road, which cleanses it before it makes its way to the Green River, Taylor said.

State and county funds are paying for the project, Taylor said, and the City of Auburn is pitching in with a $65,000 community block grant. Taylor told the council that VC officials hope to come up with the last $500,000, possibly through federal assistance, to complete the financial component of the project.

Taylor said residents may be able to move in by the beginning of next year. The average stay is two years or less for a resident, Taylor said.

The project will integrate other housing programs at Valley Cities and Auburn Youth Resources, and network with Green River College and other institutions, Taylor said.

VC, established in 1965, operates comprehensive outpatient clinics in the cities of Auburn, Federal Way, Kent, and Renton.