EVERETT — Shifts in funding and political priorities were cited by Pallet as the reason for closing local operations after building more than 35 tiny house villages since opening in 2017.
The closure announcement was posted on the Everett-based company’s website, PalletShelter.com, with the statement, “The homelessness response landscape has evolved significantly since Pallet began. Communities understand the challenge differently. Customer needs have become more complex. Funding environments and political priorities have shifted. And through nine years of working alongside communities across North America, we have learned an extraordinary amount about what works, what doesn’t, and what is needed next. Those lessons have led us to an important decision: we are closing this chapter of Pallet.”
EverettPost.com has contacted Pallet for further comment about the closure decision but as of this posting has not heard back from the company.
According to the company’s 2026 impact report, Pallet tiny house villages domiciled more than 30,000 people over 9 years in 29 states and three Canadian provinces, including Palisades Village, operated by Everett Gospel Mission, a 40-unit secure Pallet shelter community providing tiny homes with electricity, heating, air conditioning, and a community room at 3711 Smith Avenue.
In 2021, Pallet peaked with 35 villages built annually and the number of villages has dwindled steadily since then to five in 2026, according to company data, signaling a downward trajectory that precipitated the closure announcement. In the last year, from 2025 to 2026, Pallet says tiny house villages dropped from 18 down to five.
On their website, Pallet says the closure, “Is not a retreat from our mission. It is a commitment to it. Together with our partners, we helped create an entirely new category of emergency shelter and demonstrated that communities could respond to unsheltered homelessness differently.”
In the public announcement the company added, “We are deeply grateful to the cities, counties, tribes, service providers, nonprofits, funders, and community partners who trusted Pallet and believed there could be a different way. Together, we created safe, dignified shelter for thousands of people experiencing homelessness, displacement, and crisis. We believe the next phase of this work requires us to take everything we have learned and apply it differently. Members of our team will carry nine years of experience, relationships, lessons learned across North America, and a deep understanding of the realities of implementing homelessness solutions into what comes next. This is the end of Pallet as we have known it. But it is not the end of the work. Thank you for nine extraordinary years.”
Pallet Shelter says they employed 187 fair chance employees described as living-wage opportunities for people often excluded from traditional employment, including employees who had previously lived in the tiny house villages built by Pallet, and combined for 297 total employees. Pallet was founded to produce rapid, prefab housing to address homelessness increases. The tiny house units were commonly built in 64-square foot and 100-square foot sizes.