West Seattle, Washington

24 Thursday

44℉

More on DNDA’s new affordable-housing project

December 29, 2007 1:04 pm
|      11 COMMENTS
 |   Delridge | West Seattle news

After the $2.4 million grant for Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association‘s Strength of Place Village project was announced earlier this week (WSB report here), we asked DNDA executive director Derek Birnie for more details. Today, we have them, starting with this early design view of the future complex:

strengthofplacevillage.jpg

He also provided WSB with a detailed press release. While this project will be in White Center (map), it’s noteworthy for West Seattle not just because that community continues to grow and change and may eventually be part of our city, but also because DNDA is based in WS (where it’s already been at the heart of transformational projects such as the Youngstown Arts Center and West Seattle Community Resource Center). Here are the Strength of Place Village details:

DNDA Receives Funding for Affordable Housing in White Center

Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA) this week was awarded a $2.4 million loan by King County to construct 30 units of affordable housing in the White Center area. The complex, to be called Strength of Place Village, will be located at the corner of SW 100th Street and 13th Avenue SW. It will provide housing for families earning less than 60% of the area median income, including some families who are transitioning from homelessness.

The project is part of the Strength of Place Initiative, a joint effort of the White Center Community Development Association and DNDA. The aim of the Initiative is to maintain the income diversity of White Center as it develops.

Recent trends indicate that White Center is in the early phases of a building boom similar to that witnessed in the neighborhoods to its north over the past few years. It is currently a haven for low income and immigrant families, and has an ethnically diverse business community.

A number of foundations and public and private agencies, including the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Technology Access Foundation and the King County Housing Authority, have invested tens of millions of dollars in facilities and programs to support White Center’s low income families. The Strength of Place Initiative will provide the affordable housing to ensure that White Center families can stay in the community and continue to benefit from these long term investments.

The project received support from a broad range of community members and institutions. “The creation of new affordable housing will help White Center residents stay in the community. The businesses will also benefit from new housing close to downtown, which will bring new customers into the downtown core,” wrote White Center Chamber of Commerce Manager Sigrid Wilson. White Center Early Learning Initiative Executive Director John Bankcroft wrote, “A key element to improving family stability, so that children can thrive, is to provide families with housing they can afford.”

The King County funding, provided by the King County Housing Finance Program, will be a portion of a project budget that will also include state and federal funds. These funds are expected to be secured in fall 2008, and the project will be constructed beginning in 2009.

Share This

11 Replies to "More on DNDA's new affordable-housing project"

  • Todd in Westwood (S. Delridge) December 29, 2007 (2:10 pm)

    I know that affordable housing is a must, but why oh why does all of it have to be built in South Seattle, Delridge and White Center?
    I dont see the city scrambling to build this sort of thing on Fremont, Ballard or god forbid, Belltown.
    My 2 cents, for what its worth.

  • WSB December 29, 2007 (2:18 pm)

    One possible answer: Cheaper land. During our conversation with Mike Gain and Roger Cayce earlier this week, we were off on a tangent about the parallels between Ballard development and West Seattle development, and one of them noted that if you compared the highest current land/property pricing in Ballard to the highest current pricing in West Seattle, it’s a big difference – I didn’t write down the exact numbers but they mentioned a Ballard figure in the 300s per square foot compared to the WS figure being in the 200s.

  • chas redmond December 29, 2007 (8:55 pm)

    A quick perusal of Section 8 housing for King County and Seattle city shows a predominance of locations with a S or SW address or in Burien or Des Moines or Renton (for the county). This does suggest that the city and county are south-loading the subsidized income housing, creating, interestingly enough, a region with a population surplus of a group which collectively participate less in their democracy. Almost like a self-perpetuating loop. I’m sure the primary reason is low cost – for land and construction. But the unintended effect is to create a deliberate under class.

  • Kayleigh December 30, 2007 (4:29 am)

    As someone who works on low-income housing projects, I can assure you we aren’t creating a “deliberate underclass.” Seattle needs housing options at all income levels, and further, some folks need supportive housing (job training, domestic violence intervention, mental health care, substance abuse treatment, etc.) That people of a particular mindset think folks *shouldn’t* need housing assistance or supportive housing doesn’t make those needs go away.

    One of the current focuses in this arena is finding ways to create wage progression. Though not everyone can become a Microsoft millionaire, the goal is to have more people in living wage jobs eventually.

  • TheVelvetBulldog December 30, 2007 (10:33 am)

    I would also like to point out that this is the “Delridge” Neighborhood group. Not the Admiral or Alki group which is why they’re focusing on that area of West Seattle – which arguably, is in need of some focus. I’ve worked with DNDA in a volunteer role and they do amazing work and genuinely care about what happens in that neighborhood. It’s an area that’s been marginalized for years and they want to bring decent, architecturally-sensitive, low-income housing to the area.

  • jmland December 30, 2007 (10:39 am)

    Looks like a nice project. Nowhere is the architect of the project mentioned. Does anyone know who it is?

  • Aidan Hadley December 31, 2007 (9:29 am)

    Kayleigh: Whether it is deliberate or not, from a contemporary urban planning point of view, lumping low income folks together in one place does indeed perpetuate the plight of the underclasses. More desirable would be housing solutions where income levels are integrated. Instead of having those Microsoft millionaires in their gated clusters of McMansions and the low income folks in “projects”, I’d like to see a mixture of houses, townhouses and rental apartments at various price points on the same block.

  • Aidan Hadley December 31, 2007 (9:29 am)

    Kayleigh: Whether it is deliberate or not, from a contemporary urban planning point of view, lumping low income folks together in one place does indeed perpetuate the plight of the underclasses. More desirable would be housing solutions where income levels are integrated. Instead of having those Microsoft millionaires in their gated clusters of McMansions and the low income folks in “projects”, I’d like to see a mixture of houses, townhouses and rental apartments at various price points on the same block.

  • TheVelvetBulldog December 31, 2007 (4:21 pm)

    So Aidan, what’s keeping you from getting your fine self down to Delridge and getting integrated?

  • Philippa Nye January 2, 2008 (3:54 pm)

    In answer to the question on who designed the Strength of Place Village building, it was Roger Tucker of Environmental Works. He also designed the West Seattle Community Resource Center project at the corner of 35th and Morgan for DNDA.

  • Amy January 5, 2008 (6:32 am)

    DNDA really needs to change its mission statement to reflect its sole purpose of providing affordable housing to the poor in Delridge. It’s been a disappointing decade to watch Delridge maintain its status quo.

Sorry, comment time is over.