Affordable Housing - Catholic Community Services

whether by AHA or CCS, is how we get
the funding, and that can be complex,”
Hickman said. “The two agencies
work closely on all opportunities to
bring more affordable housing into
the market. When the tax credit is
your primary mechanism for funding
affordable housing, we act as the
nonprofit sponsor and manager, with
a tenth of a percent ownership. The
limited partner has 99.9 percent,
with investments coming from banks
and other financial resources in the
private sector.”
Although the Archdiocesan
Housing Authority has a $10 million
annual budget and assets of more
than $25 million in properties
owned or managed by the agency,
the shortage of affordable housing is
overwhelming.
“We’re not under any illusion that
we are going to solve the problem of
homelessness but we can address it
in a positive way that also witnesses
to the church’s social justice teaching,
working to offer people the dignity of
life that housing provides,” Hickman
said. “We’re one of many, many peers
all trying to solve this, but we are also
doing it as a mission of the church.”
Today, AHA and CCS provide
more than 1,600 affordable housing
units in 32 facilities throughout
Western Washington, helping
thousands of low-income families,
seniors and disabled people find a
place to call home.
Both organizations share a
common mission, serving the people
of Western Washington through
a faith-based and values-driven
outreach of the Catholic Church, a
mission that focuses on the Gospel
call to loving and compassionate
service and respecting the dignity of
every human being. Far more than
being simply property developers
and landlords, AHA and CCS are
concerned about the worth of each
person, offering them a variety of
other services in addition to shelter,
and being interested in them as
people, not just tenants.
In September, two newly opened
housing facilities developed by the
AHA were blessed by Archbishop
Alex J. Brunett, one in Seattle, the
other in Centralia.
Katharine’s Place–named for St.
Katharine Drexel, founder of the
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament who
established ministries in the United
States to serve African Americans
and Native Americans–is at 3512
S. Juneau Street in Seattle’s Rainier
Valley.
All 10 of its transitional housing
units for homeless families are
filled, along with the 15 other units
for permanent residents. All of the
living units provide opportunities for
families to create more stable family
lives and to become more involved in
community life.
“Katharine’s Place is exactly the
kind of project the city and county
really need to attack homelessness,
including project services,” Hickman
said. “Typically, people are low income
for a reason – recent immigration,
health issues, substance abuse, and
other issues. Housing is not their
only problem. We stabilize their lives
with housing but then we can work
on life issues. Katharine’s Place is a
very good model.”
Both Katharine’s Place and La
Casa de la Familia Santa, at 1809 N.
Pearl Street in Centralia, have onsite
managers, a community meeting
place, and children’s play areas.
La Casa de la Familia Santa has
45 new resident units, all filled. It
is AHA’s fifth affordable housing
development for farm workers.
Others are being developed.
“We’re developing more housing
for agricultural workers from
Whatcom County to Clark County,
including two projects in Mount
Vernon and one in Sedro Woolley,”
said Gloria Burton, AHA housing
developer. “In the Woodland area,
where we have a 50-unit building, we
have another being developed with
25 units. Another is being planned
for Kelso. The challenge throughout
Western Washington is that the need
is so great.”
Another example of affordable
rental developments in Western
Washington is the Matsusaka
Townhomes in Tacoma. AHA built
26 units of family housing with two-,
three- and four-bedroom apartments
on a site across from a lot being
developed for office space. It’s home
to nearly 100 people, including 60
children. The design concept was
focused on families, resulting in a
play area in the back, a large jobtraining
program, child care services,
and a social service agency across
the street. It is one example of how
AHA and CCS continue to provide
not only much needed low-income
housing, but also improvements
to neighborhoods and the local
economic mix.
The Matsusaka Townhomes have
been used as a statewide example
to showcase how to do affordable
housing well.
One of the newest projects,
currently under construction, is
Chestnut Street Apartments in
Bellingham, an AHA “eco-friendly”
development with 40 studio and onebedroom
apartments for individuals
at 30 percent and 50 percent of the
area’s median income. Eight units
are set aside for formerly homeless
tenants, and eight units are for
tenants with disabilities. Four floors
of housing are being built atop streetfront
commercial, with one level of
parking below grade.
It will also be a LEED (Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design)
16 Samaritan Magazine Fall 2005