Seattle gives 9 million to help create affordable housing

SEATTLE -- The City of Seattle is awarding $9 million to help create five new affordable housing developments, with the majority focused directly on meeting the goals of the Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness.

This is another important step in the Ten-Year Plan to end homelessness, said Mayor Greg Nickels. These are programs that will make a real difference in people's lives. We have about 500-700 chronically homeless people in Seattle and this funding alone could bring that number down by 115. Were making progress.

Following eight weeks of thorough analysis of funding applications numbering up to 1,500 pages each, the following five projects were chosen for funding in this round:

Sponsor	Project	Neighborhood	.. Units	Description
Archdiocesan Housing Authority	Westlake 2 801 9 th Ave.	First Hill, across from St. James Cathedral	55	Housing First - permanent supportive housing targeted to chronic homeless men from St. Martin de Poerres emergency shelter
Downtown Emergency Service Center	Rainier Housing 5720 Rainier Ave. S.	Rainier Valley/Hillman	60	Housing First - permanent supportive housing targeted to chronic homeless men and women disabled by mental illness. 24/7 staffing.
Archdiocesan Housing Authority	Holden St. Family Housing 2429 SW Holden St .	Delridge/Westwood	26	Permanent supportive housing for homeless families. Targeted to Latino families. On-site services provided by AHA.
Jubilee Women's Center	Jubilee House	Capitol Hill/Volunteer Park	27	Supportive housing for homeless women with an emphasis on employment and training.
AIDS Housing of WA	Kenyon House 3932-42 S. Kenyon St. & 3939 S. Bozeman St.	Rainier Valley/Othello	18	Permanent housing for individuals disabled by HIV/AIDS

The Downtown Emergency Service Center development, originally a proposal for 80 units, has been the subject of continued neighborhood conversation. To help address neighborhood concerns the City urged DESC, as part of the Office of Housings good neighbor policy, to reduce the number of units to 60 and look at other ways to address issues raised by the community.

The City is requiring, as part of the DESC funding award, the creation of a Good Neighbor Agreement between DESC and the neighborhood. The Office of Housing will lead this effort to identify what both DESC and the neighborhood can do to ensure success of the proposed development. A public meeting to discuss the Good Neighbor Agreement will be held Wednesday, June 14, from 6-8pm. The meeting will be at Genesee Housing, located at Rainier Vista, at 2916 S. Columbian Way.