SEATTLE—July 20, 2007—Seattle Housing Authority and its partner organizations have played a significant role in transforming what was once one of the city’s most undesirable places to live into a neighborhood that is beautiful, vibrant and diverse.
Ten years ago, Roxbury House and Roxbury Village in West Seattle were among the city’s most undesirable places to live. Poorly designed and infested by gangs and crime, the neighborhood was unattractive and unsafe.
Today, things are dramatically different. Reborn as Westwood Heights, the neighborhood is much more appealing and measurably safer.
In celebration of the dramatic changes that have taken place in the neighborhood in the last decade—including the recently completed renovation of six adjacent fourplexes—the Housing Authority is sponsoring a community block party. Westwood Heights residents and their friends and neighbors are all invited on Tuesday, August 7, from 4 to 6 p.m. along 27th Avenue SW between Roxbury and Cambridge Streets. A brief formal program will be followed by entertainment. Refreshments will be served.
One reason that Roxbury House and Village functioned poorly as housing in the past was bad design. The site’s layout housed together populations with diverse needs and challenges—seniors and young residents with disabilities in apartments, and large families in townhouses—despite their unique requirements. In addition, the layout of the grounds in the Village and the adjacent Roxhill Park inadvertently created small areas isolated from the rest of the community that fostered gang activity.
At the same time, the buildings were falling apart. Rot and asbestos contamination in Roxbury Village contributed to high maintenance costs and the closing of many units, while Roxbury House had infrastructure problems and a poorly designed commons area that was unsafe for residents. Both properties lacked appropriate accommodations for residents with disabilities. Clearly something in the neighborhood needed to change.
The opportunity for change came in 1998, when Seattle Housing Authority received a $17 million HOPE VI grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to revitalize the community by creating two safe, secure, livable, well-planned communities, one for seniors and the other for families.
Roxbury House was renovated inside and out, renamed Westwood Heights, and designated solely for senior residents. This distinction allowed specially-designed services to be put in place for both residents and other seniors in the area. Where Roxbury Village once stood, Westwood Court and Longfellow Court were developed by Seattle Housing Authority and the Lutheran Alliance to Create Housing (LATCH). Together they contain 45 one- to five-bedroom townhouse rentals serving households with a range of incomes.
Once the two revitalized Roxbury properties were complete, Seattle Housing found that residents were leery of renting in the new facility because of the reputation for crime and drug use in the adjacent block. Seattle Housing then set out to put a stop to illegal activities in the privately-owned properties on 27th Avenue across from Westwood Heights.
Housing Authority staff contacted the property owners individually, and over time purchased buildings along the entire block. In many cases, when squatters occupying units discovered that the Housing Authority was taking over management of the buildings, they chose to move on. Better tenant screening, lease enforcement and upgrades to the buildings and landscaping have helped turn the block around.
The Housing Authority also worked with the Seattle Police Department and neighborhood organizations to help transform the 13-acre park to the north with a new ball field, playground, wheelchair-accessible concrete picnic pads and trails and bridges.
The successful revitalization efforts of Seattle Housing Authority, its community partners and the federal government have transformed the Westwood Heights neighborhood for the better, and as you’ll see at the August 7 block party, the results are worth celebrating.