The Low Income Housing Institute will begin taking applications later this month for preleasing its 57-unit affordable workforce housing complex in downtown Bellevue, slated for completion in early March.
Construction of the apartment building, which will provide families and individuals at 60 percent or less of the area median income with workforce housing, began last January at 204 111th Ave. N.E.
“I think what’s really great is that half of the units will be very affordable to families living at 30 percent of the area median income,” said Sharon Lee, LIHI executive director.
The Bellevue Apartments project — a final name for the complex is yet to be decided — includes 12 units for homeless families and individuals, a minimum of eight for veterans and three for families with children with developmental disabilities.
Lee said LIHI has an area manager who will handle screening and approving qualified applicants, the nonprofit beginning the preleasing process two months prior to construction completion to allow families to give notice at their current residences. King County-sponsored Family Housing Connections will provide referrals for homeless families looking to occupy several units.
LIHI is constructing the $16.6 million Bellevue Apartments with $10 million in low-income housing tax credits and partial funding — $635,000 — from the city of Bellevue. Another $500,000 was granted to LIHI through the Federal Home Loan Bank Seattle’s affordable housing program. The State Housing Trust provided a $2.5 million grant.
Lee said the shortage of affordable housing in Bellevue and the greater Eastside has not improved since construction of the Bellevue Apartments began, and new and recurrent funding sources are being sought to create additional housing projects.
“We would like to approach the city of Bellevue to do additional projects,” Lee said. “There’s just such a shortage on the Eastside.”
New funding could be made possible at the federal level, should a National Housing Trust Fund pass in Congress, Lee said. That would provide an estimated $7 million to Washington state.
“This will be a historic event when the legislation gets passed, because it looks like it’s happening,” she said.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s 2015-17 budget also proposes putting $75 million into the state Housing Trust Fund Account, up 33 percent over the last biennium. A proposed cap-and-trade on carbon emissions is expected to provide $15 million, while bonding would be used for the other $60 million.
