$63.9 million awarded for affordable housing development
Funded projects will serve over 1,200 individuals and families
The Washington State Department of Commerce has awarded $45 million from the state's Housing Trust Fund including $12.2 million from a set-aside to serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and $6.7 from the National Housing Trust Fund to develop affordable housing projects in communities across the state.
These projects will create 1,265 units of affordable housing, joining the portfolio of more than 55,000 units of affordable housing supported by the Housing Trust Fund since 1986.
“These awards are an important part of continuing the growth of the affordable housing pipeline in our state, building permanent and sustainable solutions to the housing crisis,” said Nate Lichti, managing director of the department's multifamily housing unit. "While we’re making historic investments as part of our mission to lead the nation in housing accessibility, the demand still outpaces our ability to fund," he added, noting that several qualified projects were only partially funded or waitlisted in this round.
View the lists of awards (Box .pdf) or an interactive map (Tableau)
Virtual information session - Dec. 22
Commerce staff will host a virtual discussion of the application and funding process and Q&A session tomorrow, Dec. 22 at noon via Zoom.
Register to attend Zoom presentation
Focusing on groups disproportionally impacted by housing instability
Nine of the projects announced today are funded from a set-aside for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities. All received high ratings from the Department of Social and Health Services. Commerce's Housing Trust Fund team also worked to understand which projects applying for state funding will primarily serve Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) who disproportionately experience housing instability due to institutionalized racism. Seven such projects will be funded, supporting the creation of 414 units of housing, and another 10 will be placed on the waitlist for future funding.
Commerce has requested funding to match organizations with projects on the waitlist with consultants who can provide technical assistance to help move them forward.
Partial funding and waitlist
Commerce received more qualified applicants than it has funds to distribute, an indication of both the strong demand for affordable housing and the increasing capacity of government and non-profit partners to provide it. In addition to the 18 projects fully funded, nine projects were partially funded and another 22 were placed on the waitlist.
Commerce is actively working with other public funders and applicants to ensure as many partially funded and wait-listed projects are positioned for execution, either with gap funding from other agencies or access to future rounds of capital funding.
More information
A complete list of applications received and awards for each funding round and information about currently available funding opportunities, is on the Applying to the Housing Trust Fund web page.
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