Dive Brief:
- King County, WA, Executive Dow Constantine has announced an $83 million plan to build hundreds of homes near the county’s busiest transportation hubs in an effort to alleviate residents' rising living costs.
- The plan involves building 700 affordable "workforce" housing units near transit centers, and was created around Sound Transit's plan to build more than 30 miles of new lightrail in the next eight years.
- The homes will be available to people earning less than 80% of the median income, and officials hope the housing will help spur development around the new lightrail transit project.
Dive Insight:
The qualifying salary limit for a household of four is $69,000, and the housing units should start to become available in the next two to five years, according to Constantine's office. Exact locations of the housing have yet to be determined, but Constantine said the units would be mixed with market-rate housing within a few densely-populated blocks.
The Washington Legislature approved up to $45 million in workforce housing bonds, and Constantine’s office said it expects that to cover 500 homes. Another $18 million would create a loan fund to finance an additional 200 units, and nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners would administer that money.
An additional $20 million in loans would become available if voters approve the Sound Transit 3 expansion during the November 2016 election.
"Light rail has the power to transform communities," Constantine said in a statement. "With this vision, we can be deliberate about creating vibrant, walkable, economically diverse neighborhoods around new and existing stations."