New developments in the ongoing debate/discussion of the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) proposal to build a 75-apartment building in Delridge to house homeless people living with mental illness:

9:49 AM UPDATE: City funding for the Delridge Supportive Housing project (reported here two weeks ago) was officially announced at a media event in North Seattle less than an hour ago. DESC executive director Bill Hobson (at right in the Seattle Channel screengrab above) was among those who joined Seattle Office of Housing director Rick Hooper at the event. The news release (read it here) describes the amount as $4.5 millon, a bit above the “up to $4.45 million” confirmed to WSB last month.

10:30 AM UPDATE: Also this morning, something else we had previously reported is now “official” – the December 8th Design Review meeting (here’s the notice just published in the Land Use Information Bulletin).

ORIGINAL REPORT (12:32 AM): Hooper has replied to 4 questions sent by “A Concerned Delridge Neighbor,” which “Concerned” had posted on her/his website here. Read on for the questions/answers as received from Hooper today (we were among those CC’d):Read More

The city has set a tentative date for the first Southwest Design Review Board meeting on the Downtown Emergency Service Center‘s 75-unit Delridge Supportive Housing project: Thursday, December 8th. That’s according to the list of upcoming meetings on the city’s website. If that date holds, it’ll be at 6:30 pm, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. Design Review meetings are held before a city-appointed all-volunteer regional board that evaluates projects strictly in terms of design and whether those elements of a project conform to zoning (if not, “departures” have to be requested). Projects for which design review is required, like this one, will go before the board at least twice, once for “early design guidance” (the purpose of this meeting), then, for a formal recommendation to the city.

In the meantime, the project proposed for the 5400 block of Delridge (official address on city records, 5444 Delridge) has been recommended for two public-funding grants, $500,000 state and “up to $4.45 million” city, while the county-convened Joint Recommendations Committee meets November 17th to consider a request for $538,000. Other funding for the $14 million project is proposed to be raised through a tax-credits program.

Local residents researching the project continue to post information and documents obtained through public-records requests at these two sites: Delridge Community Forum and A Concerned Delridge Neighbor. The volunteers working on the DCF site say that the county staffers working on the Nov. 17th presentation suggest public comments be sent by this Wednesday; the contacts are listed in this post on their website

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Delridge residents concerned about the Downtown Emergency Service Center‘s 75-unit “supportive housing” project have obtained more information about the project via public-records requests, and we have a few new details too.

Four months after news of the proposed apartments in the 5400 block of Delridge first came to light at a North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting (WSB coverage here; next-day followup here), documents posted by citizen researchers indicate the agency is close to key dates for greenlighting the project, such as a projected December 1st closing of the deal for property on Delridge. Public-funding decisions are being made; as reported here last week, the city Office of Housing says it has approved “up to $4.45 million” for the project, right after the state announced an award of $500,000.

The county is considering a grant as well; the advisory Joint Recommendations Committee was scheduled to make a decision at a meeting last week, but postponed it after hearing from Delridge residents who attended the meeting on Mercer Island to comment on the project. One of them, Karrie Kohlhaas, summarized some of the concerns that were voiced regarding the neighborhood’s characteristics:Read More

The proposed 75-apartment project on Delridge to provide housing for homeless people living with mental illness has been granted city money as well as state money, we have confirmed. According to Seattle Office of Housing spokesperson Julie Moore, the city grant to Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) is for “up to $4.45 million.” That follows the state’s decision to grant $500,000 to DESC’s Delridge Supportive Housing project, as reported here Wednesday.

When we first spoke with Moore yesterday, at which time she had confirmed the city funding decision but not the amount (which she provided today), she also said that her department wanted to clarify some of what was written on the “Concerned Neighbor” website we reported on yesterday, and she has provided a document that she says clarifies the city’s “siting policy,” which the anonymous author suggested did not synch with the DESC plan. Caveat: As with the “Concerned Neighbor” site info, we have no way to fact-check the info we’re pointing you to – but here it is, so you can make up your own mind.

A county group was set to potentially decide on DESC project funding yesterday, but delayed its decision after hearing from a group of Delridge residents who voiced concerns about the project. Meantime, DESC executive director Bill Hobson has answered questions we e-mailed him on Wednesday. He says they have not yet closed on the Delridge property (in the 5400 block); their architects are still working on a presentation for a not-yet-scheduled “Early Design Guidance” meeting of the Southwest Design Review Board. (We have requested a digital copy of a sketch that a Delridge attendee photographed at yesterday’s county meeting; if we don’t receive one, we’ll add that photo here.) Our note to Hobson was after word of the state funding but before word of the city funding; regarding the state funding, he says that the half-million dollars represent “around 3-4% of anticipated total project costs,” which would mean those costs are at least $12.5 million.

ORIGINAL 11:46 AM REPORT: One day after reporting that the DESC proposal for a 75-unit homeless-housing project in Delridge is recommended for $500,000 state funding, we received word of a site at which an anonymous “Concerned Neighbor” has published research that s/he says is relevant to the proposal. We don’t have the research bandwidth to try to fact-check this, so we are not vouching for its accuracy, but here’s the link, so you can read for yourself if you’re interested. (Note the tabs leading to additional pages.) We asked DESC executives yesterday for comment on the funding report and still have not received a reply; if we do, we’ll ask them about this too.

2:16 PM UPDATE: We will have another story in the works for later today; we have heard from Delridge residents who attended a county meeting today regarding another funding request for the project, and we are told the decision was delayed because of concerns voiced by the residents.

4:17 PM UPDATE: Also revealed at that county meeting – the city has granted funding for the project. We have confirmed this with the city Office of Housing. As for how much – the Housing spokesperson is supposed to call us back with that information.

The state Housing Trust Fund is recommending that the Downtown Emergency Service Center get a $500,000 grant for its 75-unit Delridge project to house homeless people living with mental illness. According to online records, that is the full amount that DESC sought from the state. DESC also is seeking city and county funding, and according to the website kept by Delridge Community Forum, which organized a meeting about the project 2 weeks ago, there’s a county meeting tomorrow about funding. That information is here, including who to contact with opinions about the project. DESC planned to complete the purchase of three parcels in the 5400 block of Delridge if it got funding for the project, and has said construction wouldn’t start any sooner than next fall.

(Photo courtesy Holli Margell)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Three and a half months after first word of a proposed apartment project meant to house 75 homeless people living with mental illness and possibly substance abuse, questions and concerns still abound in Delridge.

That was the bottom line of last night’s first Delridge Community Forum, launching a new volunteer-organized series of mediated conversations on major topics of local interest. The DCF organizing group spun off from the North Delridge Neighborhood Council, after a June community meeting about the Downtown Emergency Service Center‘s proposal left a lot of dissatisfaction, particularly the fact it was in a tiny venue that led to a lot of turnaway.

For last night’s forum, which brought an estimated 150 people to the theater at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, organizers went to extensive lengths to try to ensure the event would not lean too heavily toward either the pro or con direction, and that it would not dissolve into an angry brouhaha. The only real flash of the latter potential happened when the meeting was already running overtime – and resulted in a quick adjournment.

Ahead – the key points of information and concern, including video of the presentations that preceded the Q/A:Read More

From Monday night’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting at Delridge Library:

(NDNC hearing from SDOT consultant Josh Stepherson; photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
Major discussion points included a look ahead to tonight’s first Delridge Community Forum, about the DESC homeless-housing proposal, was a major item, as were the potential North Delridge traffic effects of the Fauntleroy Expressway Seismic Retrofit Project bridge/road work.

THE FORUM: DCF is a spinoff from NDNC, putting together a series of mediated community forums with the help of a city grant. Patrick Baer briefed the meeting on plans for tonight’s discussion (6:30 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center), the first real chance for a big-group discussion about the 75-apartment projects that first came to light last June, including a meeting from which people had to be turned away. He has drawn a big-name guest list.

*Child care has been secured for the meeting. The room at Youngstown (4408 Delridge Way SW) has room for 300 (and there’s a room next door as backup for overflow); volunteers delivered 1,300 flyers around the area, in Spanish/English/Vietnamese, to get the word out. The format will be “world café,” including small-group discussions that report back to the full gathering. After conversations, there will be an opportunity for anyone interested in further action to convene and talk about it, but that will not be led by those who are leading the meeting. (More info at delridgeforum.blogspot.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/delridgeforum.) The next forum is already being planned; anyone interested in helping is invited to a get-together at 6:15 pm October 24 at Delridge Library.

Ahead, the city consultant who’s been briefing community groups on the bridge-retrofit project, and other traffic/transportation issues, plus prospective Delridge Community Center cuts, and an announcement with NDNC elections ahead:Read More

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Within a few minutes of the scheduled start of tonight’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting, more than 25 people were in the small meeting room at Delridge Library – more than double the usual NDNC turnout. (Our photo shows only about half the room.)

The biggest, and first, topic: The proposed 75-unit homeless-housing project that Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) wants to build on Delridge, a stone’s throw from tonight’s meeting site.

Read on for highlights of that discussion and other issues/matters talked about tonight:Read More

A note for those tracking Downtown Emergency Service Center‘s proposal to build a 75-unit apartment building in the 5400 block of Delridge Way for homeless people dealing with mental illness and other challenges such as substance abuse: Three weeks after DESC started contacting neighborhood leaders about the plan, it finally has a page on their website. (We have been checking for one, but nothing’s been there; a Google Alert just brought this up overnight, so it’s new.) It includes an overview of the project, plus links to the neighborhood letter/flyer circulated before last Monday’s Delridge Library meeting and the information sheet circulated at the meeting, as well as the images that were displayed on easels at the meeting, including a possible configuration for the building (shown above), and news-coverage links (so far, just us). DESC has not announced any additional community meetings but it would seem a sure bet to be on the next North Delridge Neighborhood Council agenda, 6:30 pm Monday, July 11th, location TBA.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Facing a self-described “passionate” crowd in North Delridge tonight, Downtown Emergency Service Center executive director Bill Hobson did not deny Delridge Neighborhoods District Council chair Mat McBride‘s assessment of the meeting’s intent:

“In one of your early comments, you said you came here to have a discussion, but it’s less of a discussion and more of an explanation,” observed McBride – an explanation from Hobson that if funding comes through, DESC intends to build a 75-apartment complex for mentally ill homeless people in North Delridge, whether area residents like it or not.

McBride’s assessment, stark as it was, came as the standing-room-only meeting, more than 50 packed into the Delridge Library‘s small public-gathering room, started to calm from a crescendo of shouting and accusations – more between participants of opposing views, than directed at the DESC leader, though Hobson too had to raise his voice at more than one point to get a word in edgewise.

He had begun with an explanation of his agency, and then of the project, while also saying, “This doesn’t have to be the last public meeting” about it. From sheltering, DESC moved into the housing business starting in 1995. He briefly touched on what is described on the DESC website as a “Housing First” philosophy – rather than expecting their clients to get their lives in order before becoming eligible for housing, they are put into housing first – then offered services to deal with their challenges, which might include mental illness and/or substance abuse.

The agency operates eight projects (unofficially Google-mapped above by McBride) and hopes to break ground soon on a ninth at 105th and Aurora in North Seattle; Delridge would be its tenth. DESC already had initiated the purchase of lots in the 5400 block of Delridge before going public with news of its plans, mainly by contacting representatives of community groups including the North Delridge Neighborhood Council; we covered the June 13th meeting of NDNC, and that’s where we heard about it for the first time, including information from chair Karrie Kohlhaas in our meeting report, then contacting DESC the next day for an in-depth followup. Here’s more of what Hobson said tonight about the project:

In our interview with him two weeks ago, Hobson had told WSB that DESC thought it might be able to help Delridge in its process of “stabilizing.” Tonight’s first question asked, how could this possibly help?

Read More