King County Awards $23.4M To 7 Affordable Housing Projects

KING COUNTY, WA — Seven affordable housing projects in six King County cities received a financial boost that will help local organizations build or maintain more than 400 units for low-income residents and families. King County Executive Dow Constantine announced the combined $23.4 million in grants awarded to the projects on Monday and said the funds were distributed in December.

“Our region must continue to invest in more sustainable, affordable housing, and these projects will open doors for people around King County,” Constantine said in a statement. “The recipients of these awards are doing critical work to advance equitable, community-driven development. The projects mitigate displacement pressures and provide more people with a safe place to call home.”

The funds include more than $6 million to help Horizon Housing Alliance construct 40 units of housing for people experiencing homelessness or with “extremely low-income” in Kirkland’s Totem Lake neighborhood. Another $4.3 million will help Bellevue’s LifeWire add more than two dozen units of emergency shelter and transitional housing for domestic violence survivors and their children.

“When people think of East King County, they often consider it to be full of wealth, but in reality, too many of our residents experience housing instability and homelessness,” said Claudia Balducci, the King County Council’s chair. “These investments will help change lives — for survivors of domestic violence and their children, for people trying to attain and keep housing, and for young adults in our community.”

Here is how the county describes the seven projects that received funding:

  • Community Roots Housing / White Center Community Development Association, White Center – $3,250,000
    • A redevelopment of the White Center Hub will provide 76 units of affordable housing as well as commercial space to house a community center and event space for programming.
  • LifeWire, Bellevue – $4,300,000
    • A rehabilitation of a property in Bellevue will provide 25 units of emergency shelter and transitional housing for domestic violence survivors and their children who are coming out of homelessness or are at high risk of homelessness.
  • Community Roots Housing / YouthCare, Seattle – $1,221,761
    • A redevelopment of a mixed-use building that will include 84 low-income housing units as well as an education and employment academy for young people who have experienced homelessness.
  • Horizon Housing Alliance, Kirkland – $6,100,000
    • The 40 units of homeless and extremely low-income housing provided within Totem Lake will be part of a larger development that will include new construction of an additional 470 units of transit-oriented development workforce housing.
  • Friends of Youth, Kirkland – $1,806,800
    • An existing 8-unit apartment complex will be renovated to include housing for 14 low-income young adults.
  • Downtown Emergency Service Center, Burien – $5,276,651
    • An affordable housing development in Burien that will create 95 units of stable, supportive housing for vulnerable people experiencing homelessness.
  • Renton Housing Authority, Renton – $1,458,568
    • Sunset Gardens will include 75 units of affordable housing for Veterans and people experiencing homelessness, as well as the Renton Housing Authority administrative office on the ground floor.

Read more about the affordable housing funds on the King County website.

Source: Bellevue Patch