{"id":38262,"date":"2023-10-19T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.redmond-reporter.com\/news\/possible-antidote-to-the-eastsides-housing-crisis\/"},"modified":"2023-10-19T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T00:00:00","slug":"possible-antidote-to-the-eastsides-housing-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redmond-reporter.com\/news\/possible-antidote-to-the-eastsides-housing-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Possible antidote to the Eastside’s housing crisis?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Financing affordable housing, especially on a large scale, can be a complex and expensive undertaking. Developers often find themselves falling short, unable to fill the final funding gaps. This roadblock can be what stops the realization of affordable housing.<\/p>\n
However, the Evergreen Impact Housing Fund (EIHF), an investment fund managed by Seattle Foundation has taken an approach that covers these funding gaps to projects through their first-of-its-kind model.<\/p>\n
One of EIHF’s newest collaborations is with the Inland Group, on the Polaris apartments in Totem Lake, Kirkland, expected to open by 2026. This will be the second project EIHF and Inland Group have worked on together.<\/p>\n
The 440-unit apartment complex will provide affordable housing to people with various mixed incomes.<\/p>\n
Polaris will include 260 units for households earning 50-60% of the area median income (AMI), 40 units for households earning 30-50% (AMI) and 140 units that are market rate.<\/p>\n
Area median income (AMI) is the midpoint of a specific area’s income distribution and is calculated annually, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).<\/p>\n
Low income is at or below 80% of the AMI, very-low income is at or below 50% of the AMI, and extremely-low income is at or below 30% of the AMI, according to HUD.<\/p>\n
The Polaris apartments will include one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four-bedroom units. Of the 260 low-income housing units, 182 of them will have two bedrooms or more, said Kris Hermanns, chief impact officer at Seattle Foundation.<\/p>\n
The fund focuses on accelerating the financing of large-scale affordable housing projects, specifically to address the shortage of family-sized units in Washington. Hermanns said there is a preponderance of studios and one-bedroom apartments in King County, but the most vulnerable are families and households in the 50% to 60% AMI.<\/p>\n
Dialing in on the kind of critical housing needed is not an easy task — for developers to build larger units is complex and expensive, Hermanns said. EIHF tries to lessen the financial blow by incentivizing more developers with low-interest, long-term loans to fill financing gaps and make affordable housing projects possible.<\/p>\n
Polaris will also provide wrap-around services. Individuals and families living in the new development can access resources through the nonprofit Hopelink, including onsite behavioral health providers to support resident transition.<\/p>\n
The apartment complex will be located next to multiple public transportation outlets; grocery stores accessible by foot, bike or bus; resource services and medical centers; and schools and open spaces such as Totem Lake Park.<\/p>\n
Polaris is one of the five developments the Evergreen Impact Housing Fund has supported financially to help the developer’s project come to fruition since the fund’s inception in 2020.<\/p>\n
Call to action<\/strong><\/p>\n The EIHF was created in response to the current housing crisis Washington state is experiencing.<\/p>\n According to the 2023 Washington Department of Commerce report, 1.1 million homes will need to be added within Washington over the next 20 years to keep pace with population growth. Over half of these homes will need to accommodate low-income individuals and families.<\/p>\n Though the Eastside includes some of the wealthiest households, Hermanns said the Eastside needs affordable housing like the rest of King County and Washington state.<\/p>\n It is important to have affordable housing across the continuum from households that fall in 0% to 120% AMI, Hermanns said.<\/p>\n “With the growth of jobs and economic opportunities on the Eastside, we need to be sure that working families have access to homes that are near those opportunities.” She said. “It’s really important for us to be able to couple [economic and job growth] with affordable housing, so working families have access to those same opportunities.”<\/p>\n Of the households that live in Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond and Issaquah and fall within the 80-100% AMI, about 33% report as cost-burdened. Cost burden is defined as a household who spends more than 30% of their income on rent, mortgage and other housing needs, according to the King County key housing affordability indicators data. Data shows this average continually rises as households’ AMI drops.<\/p>\n “There just has to be new and different ways of building more affordable housing because what we’re currently doing isn’t enough. If we don’t try things, new, innovative and bold, we’re not going to get different outcomes,” Hermanns said.<\/p>\n