The Adapting Ownership Project explores how informal placemaking processes by Seattle migrant communities have emerged to adapt relationships with land—specifically around collaborative ownership—to a new environment. Using video documentation to observe a local placemaking case study, the mini-documentary project reveals gaps in formal design and policies governing land-use that hinders resettlement. Through a site tour and semi-structured interview, the case study examines a church in Tukwila, which has recently acted as a temporary shelter for African and Latin American migrant families. The focus on an asylum-seeker community from the Global South addresses the tension in adapting to new environments shaped by forced migration. The findings reveal the ongoing process of reappropriating spaces beyond intended uses, the self-organization of community programs, and the transformation of space to reflect cultural identities. By using placemaking processes to redefine shared spaces, particularly informal processes, these communities adapt knowledge and practices that reveal shortcomings in formal policies. The project uses video documentation as a tool to build empathy and challenge dominant narratives about marginalized groups.