Tax-credit financing for DESC Delridge project? Meeting tomorrow

| Delridge | DESC Delridge project | Development | West Seattle news

(A design rendering shown at the March 8th SW Design Review Board meeting)
Tomorrow’s the day the Washington State Housing Finance Commission will look at the tax-credit financing proposed to comprise most of the money for DESC‘s 66-unit Delridge Supportive Housing project. Full details are on the Delridge Community Forum website, but to summarize it: This funding would allow private investment in the project, with the private investor(s) getting Low-Income Housing Tax Credits in exchange. The project (5444 Delridge Way SW) already has been approved for public funding from the city, county, and state. The Thursday meeting, which includes a public-comment period (other ways to comment are explained on the DCF site), is at 1 pm, downtown at 1000 Second Avenue (28th floor).

In advance of the meeting, the anonymous “Concerned Delridge Neighbor” who has been diving into some of the issues the project has raised – such as, is Delridge already bearing more than its share of very-low-income housing? – published an open letter to the WSHFC, with data about the area’s poverty. (If you have already been following this via the North Delridge mailing list, where questions were raised about the data’s accuracy/source, note that “Concerned Delridge Neighbor” has published a postscript citing the source.)

The Jester March 21, 2012 (8:41 pm)

Build it and they will come!

JoAnne March 21, 2012 (10:13 pm)

Sweet deal. A legal way for the city to shakedown developers.
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Developers give the city what it wants, and the city gives developers what they want.
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And it’s all on the backs of neighborhoods.
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Mike March 21, 2012 (10:21 pm)

Put it in Medina.

K M March 22, 2012 (7:55 am)

I live in the Delridge neighborhood and while there are drawbacks to having a DESC buiding located in our neighborhood, we need to remember to be kind and help those who need it. This article in the Seattle Times really reminded me of that fact, and a reader’s comment made me realize the DESC project will make a big difference in some people’s lives.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2017692663_pacificpmissing18.html

Reader’s comment-“I have a similar story. I live in eastern WA and my brother was last seen by me in Seattle. Seattle PD would not let me file a missing persons report. After years of putting up flyers around food banks and homeless shelters I finally found my brother, thanks to the kindness of another homeless person with a cell phone and some volunteers who work the free meal lines. My brother is mentally ill but has found shelter with DESC program. I am very thankful for this program every day. Please support this very worthy cause.”

Danny March 22, 2012 (8:58 am)

Do not want.

dbsea March 22, 2012 (9:44 am)

For reasons that are no doubt partially selfish but also for the sake of “fairness” I’d like to see such a facility put into an area that is less burdened by poverty. Of course there are other factors involved but a goal should be to ensure that all parts of Seattle share in this. The path of least resistance isn’t usually the best or most sensible path.

ale March 22, 2012 (10:54 am)

Still do not want. Will be very curious to see if the letter gets any response. I won’t hold my breath…

Noelle March 22, 2012 (11:13 am)

How do you get on the North Delridge mailing list?

WSB March 22, 2012 (12:49 pm)

Noelle – Re: the mailing list. Scroll down the right sidebar on the NDNC website http://www.ndnc.org and you’ll see the “subscribe” box right under the “translate” group of flags. That should do it. Let me know if not. It’s a Google list – TR

Seacrest Diver March 22, 2012 (12:35 pm)

I completely understand the desire to be compassionate. I want to be compassionate. But this project just keeps getting worse and worse the more I learn about it. Do the supporters have no qualms that part of this projects funding allows for the concentration of poverty in this area? I didn’t even realize this was a thing…
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Hey building a new complex in Medina, Queen Anne, Ballard or another posh neighborhood and don’t want those pesky poor people taking up valuable real estate? Contribute to DESC!

delridge neighbor March 22, 2012 (12:56 pm)

Ya know, having been to some of these meetings and voiced concerns, complaints, it has become obvious that the fix was in, that the developers had already paid off the right people in the city government, and in typical passive aggressive seattlite fashion, the neighborhood was divided in it’s response, not wanting to believe that anything so noble as wanting to end homelessness, take care of the mentally ill, blah blah blah, could basically be driven by an entirely financial motivation, driven by these developers, and aided by commercial interests wanting to disperse this population away from the retail core of the city. Now as to the rest of you fine west seattle citizens who don’t see this as a problem because you’ll only ever drive through the ghetto on Delridge with your doors locked, we are not that far away, granted metro keeps cutting back on bus service to the junctions from this neighborhood, but a lot of poor folks do have cars, and I see everyday your teenagers coming to our parks and greenspaces to buy drugs and party, (lets face it, they don’t want to get caught by anybody who will know them, so they go to the ghetto green)destroy and deface. Be assured that their sacrosant middle class lives will definitely be impacted by this. As far as the North Delridge Neighborhood Council goes, this group is another cruel joke on the area. After living in this neighborhood for over 20 years, I don’t recognize any of them, their patronizing attitudes, complete lack of common sense and street smarts, and their “PARTNERING” with the city in using the neighborhood as a dumping ground tells me what the real agenda is. Just like the DNDA which has been fraught with embezzlement, poor record keeping and mismanagement over the years, what is the real agenda behind this. Oh yea, pick a neighborhood that is already poor, where there is no real residential or commercial money interests, and dump all of your problems there. Its easy, just look at the blitzkrieg that is the DESC project, and how fast and furious they came in, how easily they were able to redirect, obfuscate and confuse the locals. All I can hope to do in the future is maybe offer some free shuttle services to the nice parts of west seattle so the criminals and crazies can find a better pickings, you are really not that far away.

Former Delridge Resident March 22, 2012 (4:24 pm)

I was once torn by this decision but now am in full oposition. Having recently moved from Delridge and still supportive of the community- I can affirm that this move would place a great burdon on already limited resources. Now a resident of Admiral, I beleive that our neighborhood or one similar could more easily assimilate this project and support rehabilitation efforts by providing greater access to services and transportation. That is of course, if the objectives are to provide positive community integration for the population being served…

Aaron March 22, 2012 (4:41 pm)

All rants aside, I was unable to get the day off work to attend the meeting. Anyone have a report of what happened?

WSB March 22, 2012 (4:51 pm)

https://westseattleblog.com/?p=103992

Creekside March 22, 2012 (5:49 pm)

delridge neighbor summed it up. The gig was in a long time ago. I don’t believe it was quite as outright disgusting as suggested with direct payoffs, more along the lines of political interests aligning and feel good seattle gone really off the rails.
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The worst thing is that some of the most vocal proponents of the project live in the very well off parts of west seattle and are completely removed from seeing first hand, the day to day of what poverty looks like to people living just a short drive away here in the delridge neighborhood, let alone experiencing it in their own lives.
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I never thought things could be this ugly in Seattle. I was wrong.

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