First Home for Shell

In 1997, long-time Bellingham resident John Harriman signed a standard legal agreement that would allow him to donate his small home as a legacy gift to KulshanCLT. Legacy gifts designate some part of an individual’s estate through their will as a nonprofit donation.

Ten years ago, John moved to a retirement residence and asked KulshanCLT to manage the home as a rental. Several individuals and young families have lived there affordably, most recently KulshanCLT Housing Counselor and Bookkeeper Shell Philhower.

This year, John, now aged 96, decided to sell the home into the Trust. KulshanCLT purchased the land, Shell purchased the home, and the proceeds of the sales were donated to two churches that John attended.

Shell’s cozy 875-sq.ft., 2-bed, 1-bath cottage-style home is in the South Hill Neighborhood, just down from Lowell Elementary. She and her cat Bubba love the wood stove, mature apple trees and peek-a-boo view of Belligham Bay.

“My favorite thing is not worrying that my landlord will sell the home and make me move,” Shell says.

Shell understands the impacts of housing insecurity from personal experience. “We get calls literally every day from people who are desperate to find affordable housing,” notes Shell, who rented a duplex in Sunnyland for 11 years before it was sold out from under her. “I got on the KulshanCLT waiting list as soon as I started working here in 2018,” she remembers. “My costs now are slightly less than I was paying for rent.”

“I’ve never had an easy time with housing,” Shell recalls. “I struggled as a young single mom and was literally homeless a few times. Even back then it was hard to find an affordable rental. There were several months where I was riding all of our stuff around in a bike trailer from friend’s house to friend’s house, sleeping on couches and spare bedrooms with my 2-year-old.” Shell’s son is now 26 and a student living on his own in Bellingham. “He lived in all those crappy places with me over the years,” she adds. “Hopefully I can leave this home to him one day.”

Your generosity helped make Shell’s dream of owning a home possible. Thank you for giving her this opportunity!