Why is Ecology supporting affordable housing developments?
Washington is in dire need of affordable housing across the state. Contamination, or even the suspicion of contamination, drives up the costs of housing development. The high cost leaves little incentive for developers to build affordable housing.
In addition to the usual risks of redevelopment, cleaning up contaminated sites can be a complex process with considerable risk. The cost and time associated with cleaning up a site is often poorly understood; as a result, many sites are left vacant or underused for years, even decades. Supporting cleanups for affordable housing helps make sure the cleanup gets done, protecting the community’s health and the environment.
So far we have invested over $6 million to support the planning, investigation, and cleanup of several properties for use as affordable housing. Our first project, the Mount Baker Housing Authority’s Gateway development, has started construction. It is planned as a residential complex with about 200 affordable housing units in Seattle’s Mt. Baker neighborhood, next to the Mt. Baker Link station. This development highlights the exciting potential for turning contaminated properties into affordable community- and transit-oriented housing.
Affordable Housing Grants: current projects
For the first time, we’ve partnered with a nonprofit developer — the Mount Baker Housing Authority. In 2016, Ecology and MBHA entered into a legal agreement called a Prospective Purchaser Consent Decree to investigate and clean up five properties in the intersection of South McClellan and MLK Way South in Seattle. The overall development is called the Gateway Project, and the buildings will be called the Maddux. These properties are within two contaminated sites that are being cleaned up redevelopment into affordable housing. The Mt. Baker Properties site will be developed into Maddux North, and the former site of a Phillips 66 gas station will become Maddux South. Once the housing is built, the neighborhood will be transformed to mixed-use retail and residential space — allowing residents to live near where they work.
We awarded a planning grant to the Port of Bellingham to assess approximately three acres within the Georgia Pacific West-Bellingham cleanup site near downtown Bellingham for potentially building affordable housing units, work-live spaces, ground-floor commercial spaces, a community kitchen, and a public open space.
We awarded a planning grant to the City of Kennewick to redevelop an approximately 10-acre former maintenance yard into the Kennewick Housing Authority Multi-Family Housing Complex with 110 units. The city completed environmental investigations and found no contamination above cleanup levels. The city is planning to use the remaining funding for a housing market analysis and feasibility study.
We awarded Spokane Housing Authority a planning grant to examine the cleanup needs of a potential affordable housing site – Daybreak Youth Services . The location is suspected to be impacted by fill material from the Great Fire of 1889 that destroyed the City of Spokane’s downtown commercial district including 25 city blocks.
Grand Street Commons is a joint venture development that will remediate and redevelop a 3.3 acre site as a transit-oriented mix of affordable and market rate housing within a quarter mile of the future Judkins Park (East Link) Light Rail Station. The redevelopment will also include retail space and underground parking. Implementation of the Cleanup Action Plan began in the summer of 2021. Ecology is overseeing the cleanup of this area and has awarded a grant to support cleanup activities.
We awarded the City of Wenatchee a $200,000 planning grant to evaluate the contamination at a former tree fruit research facility — the WA WSU Tree Fruit Res & Extension Center Test Pilot site — for potential purchase and redevelopment that will support affordable housing. Funded work included a focused site assessment and development of an Integrated Plan, including a housing study. The site analysis and conceptual planning indicate that the study area could reasonably support 111 units totaling 278 beds.
We awarded the Seattle Chinatown International District and Public Development Authority two planning grants totaling $450,000 to examine the cleanup needs and development potential of a cleanup site in the Seattle Chinatown International District — Goodwill Corp Dearborn Campus.
New Affordable Housing Cleanup Grant Program
We are developing a permanent, competitive grant program specifically for affordable housing cleanups. Ecology’s Affordable Housing Cleanup Grant Program will provide grants for planning and cleanup of contaminated sites intended for affordable housing development. The program will support communities by:
- Cleaning up environmental contamination for residential use
- Providing meaningful community engagement that informs and shapes decisions throughout the cleanup process
- Integrating longer-term goals of shared economic and community asset building across a diverse population
Affordable housing cleanup grants
In 2022, we plan to solicit affordable housing cleanup project proposals for potential grant funding for the 2023–2025 biennium. In the meantime, we’re helping local governments and developers identify resources that are already available to keep affordable housing projects moving forward. If you would like assistance on a potential project, please contact us.
Affordable housing planning grants
The grant program will also include grants for planning affordable housing cleanup projects. The planning grant solicitation will come after the cleanup grant solicitation. In the first solicitation we will only accept proposals for cleanup projects, not planning.
Planning grants help developers better understand if a property is suitable for residential use before redeveloping the property.
Ecology oversight for projects without grant funding
Ecology and potentially liable persons often work cooperatively to reach cleanup solutions. Options for working with us include formal agreements such as consent decrees and agreed orders, and seeking technical assistance through the Voluntary Cleanup Program. These mechanisms allow us to take an active role in cleanup, providing help to potentially liable persons and minimizing costs by ensuring the job meets state standards.
If you have a potential affordable housing project at a confirmed or suspected contaminated site and would like to request Ecology oversight under a formal agreement, please contact us.