Affordable Housing in the Seattle Commons

by C.R. Douglas


I am writing in response to a September opinion piece by Mark Gardner about the Seattle Commons (see: "Questioning the Commons"). Gardner's essay raised some important questions that ought to be asked of the Commons organization and its efforts. In the process, however, he mischaracterized much of the project, especially the affordable housing element.
In one section Gardner wrote: "The Commons board has only reluctantly responded to the needs for low-income housing retention... They have also failed to come up with a transition plan which would meet even the minimal standards of 'no net loss' of low income residences." Both assertions are wrong.
From the very beginning, the commons board of directors has been committed to making the Commons vision as inclusive as possible. It is this vision, adopted very early, which has attracted several others who have since joined the board, working groups, or other volunteer positions in our organization. Many have been attracted specifically because of our affordable housing plan.
The board's goal is not only to preserve the affordable housing opportunities that exist in the area today (806 units), but to more than triple that number over the next 20 to 30 years (2,776 units). The strategy is for every current Cascade resident to stay in the neighborhood at the current level of affordability. This is a bold challenge, for even without the Commons there is a lot of pressure on low-income housing in the area. The last several decades have seen a dramatic decrease in the number of affordable housing units lost to parking lots and other uses. The Commons wants to curb and then significantly reverse this trend.
Here's an update on how that first phase- "no net loss"- is progressing.
Since the release of the Draft 2 in June this year, our Affordable Housing Committee has been working to implement the plan's low-income housing recommendations. In this group are members of the Seattle Housing Resources Group, Common Ground, Plymouth Housing Group, Fremont Public Association, Low income Housing Institute, King County Housing Partnership, Seattle Housing Authority, Habitat for Humanity, and the Seattle Dept. of Housing and Human Services.
The committee's mandate has been to concentrate on housing affordability for households earning below 80 percent of median income (in King County, $26,880 for a household of one), with special emphasis on households making between 0 percent and 50 percent of median income ($0-$16,800 for a single person). The housing industry's general rule is that households should spend no more than 30 percent of monthly income for housing, including utilities. For a single person making half of median income, this amounts to a lid of $420 ($400 rent + $20 utilities) per month for studio housing.
Since Draft 2 was released, 200 units of affordable housing targeted to households earning 60 percent of median income were completed and are being leased. And, a local non-profit group has secured money to rehabilitate a vacant building into 37 units of permanent SRO housing for homeless men and women. Those units, combined with the number of current rent restricted units (287), bring the total subsidized units open or in the pipeline to 524. Some of these (156) are in older buildings that have been (or soon will be) rehabilitated, helping to preserve the architectural history of the Cascade neighborhood.
What steps have been taken to ensure that even more units are preserved and produced in the planning area?
Our agreement with the Seattle Times includes the donation by the Times of more than $700,000 worth of land for up to 70 new units of affordable housing near Cascade Park. It represents the first-ever subsidized housing project in the core Cascade neighborhood.
The Low-Income Housing Institute (LIHI), a non-profit housing developer, has been working with the Commons to buy and rehabilitate the Jensen Block Apts. on Eastlake Ave. This building houses the Eastlake Cafe and the Store Room Tavern, two important additions to the character of the Neighborhood. LIHI fully intends to maintain those commercial tenants if they purchase and rehabilitate the building.
Habitat for Humanity also has expressed interest in housing development in Cascade. Known internationally for its work to create and rehabilitate single-family homes, Habitat also works to create multi-family projects. They have already begun to build a six-unit project in the Central District, Habitat's interest in the Cascade neighborhood would be to build a project that contains anywhere between 6 and 15 units, depending on how much land can be obtained. The Commons is using part of its housing fund to purchase a 7,200-square-foot property on the corner of Minor Ave. N. and Thomas St. to help with this effort. All of these units would be built and owned by the families who live there.
Immanuel Lutheran Church, which owns a corner block behind the congregation, would like to build affordable housing on that site. They are discussing such an alternative with architects and others.
Our commitment is to work with owners of apartment buildings as they come up for sale and, wherever possible, to secure land for the placement of new affordable units.
Adding the number of units that we could gain from the Times property project (70) and the Jensen Block Apts. (26), the total number would be 620, or almost a fourth of our overall goal of 2776 units of affordable housing in the planning area- all well before the project even goes before the Seattle City Council for a vote.
We have not only devoted a significant amount of staff time to this part of our plan, but we have raised private capital for this effort. The total amount of contributions to our affordable housing effort are approaching $900,000, including the land donated by the Seattle Times. Every one of those dollars gives us the opportunity to leverage several more in the form of tax-exempt band loans, tax credit investments, and other sources.
The Commons provides a rare chance to take an area of town that has suffered and been neglected in terms of preserving affordable housing and reverse that trend. It is a wonderful model that can be duplicated in many areas of the city and region.

C. R. Douglas is Housing Coordinator for the Seattle Commons Committee.

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Contents on this page were published in the December/Jan, 1994 edition of the Washington Free Press.
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