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.