Nyer Urness House program man-


ager Kim Sather (left) and resident Natasha Jordan, who was homeless, admire a kitten Jordan found.


An


arm


Nyer Urness House is named for a pastor of the streets By Rachel Pritchett


38 www.thelutheran.org


RACHEL PRITCHETT


the homeless still lean on T


he homeless man was dou- bled over and retching in the cobblestone alley in Pioneer


Square. He grasped Nyer Urness’ outstretched arm for strength. For decades Urness, a barrel-chested Lutheran minister, trod the cold and dank streets of Seattle’s urban core alongside men and women who had no home and were hungry, filthy, addicted or sick. “When he stopped, a congrega-


tion would form around Nyer,” recalled longtime friend Demar Sather. Rather than preach, Urness listened, pointing them to where they could find a mattress, meal or shower. “Te Spirit kind of flowed through Nyer,” Sather said. Urness died in 2006 and never


knew that a $20 million permanent housing complex with 80 units for homeless individuals would be named for him. But staff members at Compass Housing Alliance, which built Nyer Urness House,


insisted on it. Tey had seen Urness extend that arm. From 1989 to his death, Urness


was chaplain of the Compass Center in Pioneer Square, the flagship of the nonprofit homeless alliance in Seattle. He had shown them how to listen, honor and offer help to homeless people if conversation allowed, but never to impose it. Urness would have been relieved


that finally there was a permanent home specifically for the hard- core homeless people he loved so much—those on the streets for years, the haunted veterans, the ex-cons, the abused and the abusers, and the mentally ill.


Home for many


Urness would have extended that arm to Natasha Jordan, 35, a resi- dent of Nyer Urness House, which recently opened. In shelters for vast periods of her life, Jordan suffers from depression and diabetes.


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