Rainier Valley Affordable Homeownership Initiative

Initiative Overview

Seattle's Rainier Valley is one of the region's most culturally and economically diverse neighborhoods, and it is also a neighborhood facing significant displacement pressures. Through close partnerships with Sound Transit and community-based organizations rooted in the Rainier Valley, the Office of Housing's Rainier Valley Homeownership Initiative aims to:

• Create at least 100 for-sale homes, permanently affordable to low- and moderate-income first-time homebuyers;
• Prevent displacement of current Rainier Valley residents who are being priced out of this transit-rich area, and create opportunities for displaced Rainier Valley residents to return to the area;
• Generate homeownership opportunities for Black, Indigenous, and other households of color who have been systematically and disproportionately excluded from homeownership opportunities;
• Build the capacity of community-based organizations to participate in the development and/or long-term stewardship of community assets; and
• Be responsive to community-led processes to determine outcomes for non-residential spaces to be developed alongside affordable housing.

Background

From 2017-2018, in response to community calls for more affordable homeownership in the Rainier Valley, the Seattle Office of Housing (OH) worked with Sound Transit (ST) to identify a number of Sound Transit-owned surplus sites to make available for affordable housing development. Sound Transit properties, originally purchased for construction purposes, were assessed in terms of suitability and capacity for homeownership development.  The 10 sites identified are located along MLK Jr. Way S, spanning from the Mt. Baker Link light rail station to the Rainier Beach Link light rail station.

Building on the successful partnership between OH and Sound Transit, which has resulted in the completion of several large-scale multi-family, affordable housing joint-development projects, Sound Transit successfully requested that the Federal Transit Administration relinquish their financial interest in the sites, allowing the properties to be transferred to the City at no-cost. Given the current costs of land and development, this no-cost transfer was necessary for the success of this initiative.

Based on community input solicited in the summer of 2019 through community engagement efforts led by OH, Sound Transit, Puget Sound Sage, and members of South CORE, Sound Transit and OH continued to pursue the transfer. In October 2020, the Sound Transit Board adopted Resolution 2020-17, which declared the sites suitable for housing and authorized staff to negotiate a no-cost transfer of the sites to the City of Seattle for that purpose. In February of 2021 the key business terms of the transfer agreement were approved, and the Seattle City Council approved acceptance of the properties in May of 2021.

Over the course of the next several years, and through a series of Requests for Proposals (RFPS) published by OH, no fewer than 100 affordable homes will be built and sold to homebuyers with incomes of 80% of AMI or below.

What is Happening Now

The Office of Housing is committed to meaningful engagement with organizations rooted in Rainier Valley communities. The goal of this initiative is to create permanently affordable homeownership opportunities for current or displaced Rainier Valley residents to not only be first in line to purchase these homes but to ultimately be successful in doing so. The first three sites were released via Request for Proposals (RFPs) on April 22, 2022.   OH received two proposals for each site. OH entered into negotiations with Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King County to develop a total of either to ten homes on the three sites combined.

The remaining seven sites will likely be released through the same process in batches of two to four over the next several months.

Sign up HERE to be sure to receive those RFPs and updates on this initiative.

Timeline