Garland District church renovates office space into short-term rental for health workers in Spokane

The Garland Church in west Spokane opened Providence House last month to offer short-term rentals for traveling health care workers.

Cathy Hansen, business manager for the church, said it has been offices and a pastoral house before its newest remodel.

“We’re really looking forward to showing the love of Christ to whoever comes to the house – and it’s not meant to be a high-pressure place to our church, but a safe and relaxing place while away from home,” Hansen said.

The remodel has taken months to complete and included upgrading doors inside to allow for privacy, repainting everything and decorating the entire house. The house is available for three people and is listed as a three-bedroom, 2½ bathroom.

Hansen said the church is going to use the money made from the rentals to help support office expenses so tithing donations could go toward ministry.

This new income would help pay staff or office expenses and allow for the church to do more community outreach.

She said the church also offers use of its building to the Salish School, Spokane Seventh-day Adventists and other community groups.

The church also has the Garland House that is available for refugees, Hansen said. That house is a two-bedroom and one-bath where families can stay for a month or two.

“We wanted to serve the community,” Hansen said.

The remodel was done mostly by volunteers, Hansen said. One such volunteer was Cathie Mullins, who has been a member of Garland Church for about 27 years. It was her first winter retired, and she was looking for ways to give back to her community.

“I like to paint, and … I said I could do some painting,” Mullins said.

Mullins assisted with finding paint and painting every room, ceiling and trim in the house with another volunteer.

She said it took from the second week of January to about the end of March or mid-April. Mullins said it was rewarding to see how the house transformed from a bunch of offices to a decorated home.

“It was quite a bit more work than I expected, but it was so exciting to see it transform,” Mullins said.

Mullins said it had been a lot of work for the volunteers, but she found a community in them. She said they aimed to make the fully furnished house feel “pleasantly decorated.”

“It felt very chopped up because of how it had been turned into offices, and to see it turn back into a home was very rewarding,” Mullins said.

This story was written in partnership with FāVS News, a nonprofit newsroom covering faith and values in the Inland Northwest.