Grant

Washington Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development ($700,000)

Grant

City of Seattle Office of Housing ($300,000)

Background

Despite Washington’s commitment to preservation and its long-standing dedication to providing affordable housing, some 250,000 households in the state have housing affordability problems with more than 25,000 low-income households in Seattle paying 50 percent or more of their incomes toward rent. Over the next five years, subsidy contracts for almost 8,000 federally-subsidized units will expire and approximately 5,000 Low Income Housing Tax Credit units will reach the end of their affordability covenants during the next decade. Since earlier preservation activities have been successful in transferring the ownership of subsidized properties to nonprofit organizations, Washington’s current preservation strategy mainly focuses on the long-term viability of properties, portfolios, and their nonprofit owners. Washington’s Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development administers the Housing Trust Fund, which will be the key agency involved in the preservation activities.

Project Description

Jointly, the Housing Trust Fund and City of Seattle Office of Housing (Seattle Housing) will develop a guide for nonprofit owners and affordable housing funders detailing best practices in portfolio assessment and recapitalization. The guide will include templates on how to evaluate the financial performance and long-term capital needs of an affordable housing portfolio and its owner. The Housing Trust Fund and Seattle Office of Housing will strategically target portfolio evaluation services and technical assistance to 10 to 15 nonprofit owners, of which six will be in Seattle. The in-depth analyses may include a review of an organization’s financial structures and budgets, a capital needs assessment of its properties, and assessment of its management practices and information systems. The results of the analyses will generate specific portfolio recapitalization plans, which will include financing strategies, operating improvements, and technical assistance to implement these plans. The initial group of nonprofit owners will serve as a demonstration project that will help the Housing Trust Fund and Seattle Housing determine how best to provide similar services and technical assistance to other affordable housing providers.

Another portion of the grant to Housing Trust Fund will ensure that a single statewide web-based annual reporting system for affordable housing projects is implemented that will minimize compliance costs for nonprofits and allow for performance benchmarking and multi-year trend analysis of affordable housing properties. The grant will ensure that the reporting system launches in 2009 and that it includes graphical reports and expanded data validation. Seattle Housing will use the remaining portion of its grant to support its recently established asset management network of affordable housing funders and owners in the greater Seattle region: the Housing Development Consortium of King County. This asset management affinity group consists of senior staff and members of boards of directors from most of the regional affordable housing providers, and representatives from many of the state and federal agencies that fund affordable housing developments. The network offers nonprofit owners a formal venue in which to share best practices and engage in peer exchanges about asset and property management challenges and solutions.

Contact

Lisa Vatske
Managing Director, Housing Trust Fund, CTED
(360) 725-2915, lisav@cted.wa.gov
906 Columbia Street SW, PO Box 42525, Olympia, WA 98504-2525

Bill Rumpf
Deputy Director, Seattle Office of Housing
(206) 615-1577, bill.rumpf@seattle.gov
PO Box 94725, Seattle WA 98124-4725