SHA turns to private sector to build
for-sale homes at new mixed-income communities
Design quality and affordability remain
priorities
SEATTLE—January
15, 2003—Seattle's housing inventory will grow by over 1,400 new for-sale
single family homes, townhomes and condominiums by the year 2006, as a
result of the revitalization of NewHolly, Rainier Vista and High
Point. Rather than building all these houses itself, SHA is turning
to private sector builders who have experience with this kind of
large-scale development. Beginning in early 2003, SHA is
selling finished lots in NewHolly Phase II with plans and permits for 78
townhomes and 21 single family homes for builders to
complete.
This choice represents the first step in SHA's
transition to a master developer working with a variety of builders
to rebuild mixed income communities. Thereafter, SHA will engage a
residential land broker to take offers for the majority of finished
lots, which will have infrastructure already in place, at Othello (NewHolly Phase
III), Rainier Vista and High Point.
About one-third of the residents of the redeveloped communities will be
home owners. Home owners contribute to the mix of incomes in
each community. The proceeds of home sales are necessary to fund
rental housing affordable for low-income people, new infrastructure,
parks and other community facilities. Homes sold also contribute
taxes for schools, parks and other public services.
In the early days of the transformation of Holly Park to
NewHolly, few people outside SHA were convinced that home buyers would be
willing to buy a home where a public housing project once stood. To
reestablish the neighborhood's desirability, SHA counted on
high-quality site planning and home design to attract buyers, along
with well-managed and well-integrated rental housing to assure them
that NewHolly would be a great place to live. To do this, SHA
developed all 200 for-sale homes itself, side by side with new
affordable rental units. The market
acceptance of NewHolly Phase I and the first 50 homes in NewHolly
Phase II demonstrates that this strategy has worked.
Having taken home ownership beyond "pioneer" status,
SHA is now looking to accomplish additional goals, including
increasing variety in housing design, product mix and price points,
adding more options for affordable housing, and ensuring that sales
proceeds will be available when needed to contribute to other
investments in the redeveloped communities.
Guidelines will ensure high quality design
SHA is working with the design teams at all three sites to
develop community-specific design guidelines for builders to follow. As part of that effort, current residents and neighbors of the
sites will be surveyed to assess their preferences for the
type and style of building they would like to see in those
neighborhoods. Focus groups with prospective buyers and real estate
sales professionals will also provide information about buyers' aesthetic and functional preferences.
New strategies for affordable home ownership
Revitalization plans call for about 350 homes to be affordable to
households with incomes less than 80 percent of area median: 100 at
NewHolly, 80 at High Point, and 40 percent of the total for-sale
units at Rainier Vista. NewHolly is
well on the way to achieving that goal with over 50 of the 160+
homes sold or under contract as of January 2003, bought by buyers
with such incomes. By becoming a master developer, SHA will be able
to employ a wider variety of tools to ensure that these goals can be
met, including sweat equity programs such as Habitat for Humanity,
manufactured housing eligible for a property tax exemption, and
requiring builders to set aside some units to meet affordability
goals.
For additional information on home ownership at
NewHolly,
click
here.
For additional information on the economic impacts
of the NewHolly redevelopment,
click
here.
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