Commerce awards $15.1 million to preserve nearly 1,000 affordable housing units
Grants and loans from state Housing Trust Fund enable work on 32 multifamily rental properties
OLYMPIA, WA -- The Washington State Department of Commerce today announced $15.1 million in grants and loans from the state’s Housing Trust Fund for 32 housing preservation projects in communities throughout Washington. See the complete list.
The funds will preserve 934 multifamily rental units, 432 of which will be occupied by extremely low-income households earning 30 percent or less of the area median income. The estimated total cost to complete preservation work on all the projects is more than $41 million, meaning that each state dollar invested will leverage about two additional dollars from other sources. Funding partnerships with private, public, nonprofit and community organizations will ensure completion of these projects.
“These funds strengthen communities across the state by preserving safe, decent, affordable housing for those in need,” said Commerce Director Lisa Brown. “We have a critical housing shortage in Washington state. Maintaining the quality and availability of our current housing inventory serving our state’s most vulnerable residents is a high-priority, cost-effective investment.”
Approximately 70 percent of units currently in the state’s Housing Trust Fund portfolio house people with extremely low-incomes and special-needs.
In the 2019 legislative session, lawmakers allocated $10 million for competitive funding to preserve existing affordable housing units in the state portfolio. This year session, the Legislature appropriated an additional $5 million for the same purpose. Commerce announced a Notice of Funding Availability on Sept. 26, 2019, and applicants had until December 31, 2019 to apply. The agency received 33 applications requesting approximately $15.7 million to preserve 1,018 units of low-income housing across the state.
To learn more about the Housing Trust Fund’s Preservation Program, please click here.
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