• Introduction
• Replacement housing defined
• Financing for replacement housing
• Specific examples for each community
• SHA's replacement housing plan chart

Introduction

The Seattle Housing Authority is engaged in revitalizing public housing in a variety of ways. But no matter how revitalization or redevelopment is achieved, SHA is committed to maintaining an equal or greater number of housing units for very low-income residents in Seattle. 

Different types of revitalization

In SHA's family communities, such as High Point, NewHolly or Rainier Vista, "revitalization" has meant large scale redevelopment to replace worn out housing with new housing.

For the Scattered-Sites portfolio, "revitalization" means selling some units and replacing them with others in better locations and configurations for more efficient management.

In other cases, public housing units may be demolished for a variety of reasons. For example, 21 public housing units at Yesler Terrace were removed to make way for a new community center. These have been replaced nearby.

Replacement housing strategies

In some cases, revitalization efforts mean a decrease in the number of public housing units in the communities that SHA has traditionally owned and managed. Even though there will be fewer units of housing for extremely low-income households in specific communities after revitalization, the overall number of units throughout the city will be maintained. 

SHA's board and staff have an absolute commitment to one-for-one replacement of all housing lost because of these efforts. The replacement housing will continue to be affordable to Seattle's most impoverished residents - those with incomes at 30 percent or below the area median income.

SHA's replacement housing strategies are described below. Links can be found to pages that list replacement housing locations for each community or housing portfolio undergoing revitalization.

In order to qualify as replacement housing, several criteria must apply:

• In all cases, replacement housing consists of specific, identifiable housing units. Replacement housing does not include Housing Choice Vouchers that households may use to rent in the private housing market.
   

• Replacement housing must be affordable to extremely low-income residents. That means it must serve those earning less than 30 percent of the area median income. Currently, a family of four earning $23,350 per year would qualify as "extremely low-income."
   

• The household's portion of rent and utility payments must be no more than 30 percent of their income.
   

• Replacement housing must be guaranteed to be available to extremely low-income tenants well into the future, generally a minimum of 40 years.

Replacement housing is not always the same as traditionally-defined "public housing." For example, some replacement housing is owned and managed by non-profit organizations with subsidies provided by the housing authority. Capital or operating subsidy that allows rents to be kept affordable for extremely low-income households may come from the federal public housing program or it may come from other federal housing programs, such as Section 8.   

Housing providers serving extremely low-income households, including SHA, need financial help - "subsidy" - because the rents these households can afford will not cover the cost of constructing or acquiring, and managing and maintaining the replacement housing.

SHA uses a variety of methods to finance and sustain replacement housing, including traditional, federally-funded public housing which provides on-going capital and operating subsidy. Construction funding may be provided by grants under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development HOPE VI program. Aquisition funding may come from bonds. 

In other cases, the Seattle Housing Authority:

• Contributes funds to assist with construction costs of some partnership projects, so that the development partners do not have to borrow as much money, and charge as much rent to pay it back, as they otherwise would.
   

• Assigns Housing Choice Vouchers (also called Section 8 vouchers) to some units within partnership buildings in order to make these units affordable to extremely low-income residents.
   

• Provides housing authority land to partners at below-market or no cost, enabling them to finance their projects or obtain grant funds that would not otherwise come to Seattle.
   

• Purchases housing with bonds and assigns Housing Choice Vouchers or obtains HUD approval to convert the newly-purchased units to public housing.

• NewHolly Replacement Housing
• Rainier Vista Replacement Housing
• Roxbury Replacement Housing
• High Point Replacement Housing
• Yesler Community Center Replacement Housing
• Scattered-Sites Replacement Housing