The Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) is proposing a low-income housing facility at 2014 NW 57th St.
Tonight, Sharon Lee, the executive director of LIHI, will be presenting information about the facility at the Ballard District Council meeting. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Ballard Library conference room (5614 22nd Ave NW) and is open to the public. The agenda for the meeting is here.
According to Elaine Ko with LIHI, neighbors within a 500-foot-radius of the site will be receiving “Dear Neighbor” letters in the near future. LIHI plans to hold a community meeting during the last week in October to answer questions about the proposed facility. We will update MyBallard with that meeting information when it becomes available.
isn’t this a block away from the other new low income housing project?
I guess Queen Anne and Maple leaf had no space.
Looks like Ballard is developing a Goodwill economy….
First the Hobo Hilton, now the Wino Westin?
Cripes, people. It’s low-income housing, not a halfway house. Personally, I think that there should be adequate low-income housing in Seattle, that there isn’t adequate housing currently, and that it’s not the end of the world if it goes into my neighborhood.
This project is 6 blocks from me. If it’s well-managed, bring it!
Ballard has lots of people with low incomes–why not low-income housing?
it’s a slippery slope
There is low income housing, it’s called Kent or Federal Way.
It seems like I see just as many comments about the ridiculously high priced condos in the area from some of the same folks; and why would a developer build condos that won’t sell in this market (obviously, they are building for the future)? Well… here is your answer, build low cost housing that people can afford. This seems like what a lot of people have been asking for lately on the MyBallard blog.
I know you’re new to the market but the value of homes in Seattle is determined more by the value of the land so unless you can convince someone to seek at ‘affordable home’ prices you’re out of luck. It’s the beauty of capitalism and the American Way.
So, are you willing to sell your land for less than it’s worth?
‘lot of people have been asking for lately on the MyBallard blog’
Can’t afford Ballard? Move. Plenty of cheap housing in White center, Burien, Kent and Federal Way.
how about some low income housing in Laurelhurst or Queen Ann? Why is Ballard the new dumping ground for the downtrodden? Are low income people also going to get “vouchers” for half off meals at Bastille and La Gourmand?
Capitolism is like football, we’re all competing agaist each other and half of us end up irreparably damaged. Beautiful.
I wish you nimbys would move to Burien or somewhere. It would make my mortgage payment feel more worth while.
Seriously, why all the new low income development in Ballard? I love the comment about Laurelhurst and Queen Anne – where are the proposals for those neighborhoods? Eventually Ballard could become the primary low income housing development because Laurelhusrt, for example, would be right in saying “well, they already have 12 developments like this, why not put the next one there too?”. Who thinks these developments add to their property values?
Maybe if you’d paid attention in school and learned to spell you’d be on the winning side; the damage in your case looks self-inflicted. Or move to North Korea, I hear it’s a workers’ paradise.
USA! Worker’s paradise! USA!
prejudice usually is.
looks like myballard won’t let us post links to elsewhere.
check seattlehousing dot org
Queen Anne Heights, West Town View, Olympic West, Center West.
If you’re so able to “afford” stuff, why didn’t you buy that lot first and develop it to your liking? It’s been on the market for like 3 years.
Ballard has a long history of being more affordable. I lived here back in the 80s when I was poor. Ballard is not Laurelhurst (thank goodness!) or Queen Ann or Magnolia.
Not to mention that there already is low income housing in Queen Anne.
Very true. He who pays says I suppose.
That makes it hard to argue against anything that is developed in the neighborhood. No more complaining!
It does seem like Ballard is now the “go to neighborhood for the homeless” which is very disheartening. The mayor wants the neighborhoods to have their share of the homeless which has primarily been caused by the redevelopment of downtown Seattle. Instead of displacing people, we need to create low income housing in neighborhoods that have been developed. In actuality LIHI’s proposal for low income housing is far different than the Compass Housing 80-unit homeless residence. But I would like to see LIHI reconsider the location of this housing project given the City of Seattle has granted Compass Housing’s application for the 80-unit homeless facility and it might be a little too much too fast with these two facilities being built simultaneously. We also need LIHI to answer a few questions — like who will the residents be, how many units, will there be parking — or does every low income residence get permits to build without adequate parking. I will be there tonight with my questions — hopefully some of the rest of you will too.
Errrr, LOWER Queen Anne….big difference.
One of the problems with public housing historically has been that it in effect “ghettoizes” poverty by concentrating it in a single building/development. I’d be interested in learning what part of the money to buy the parcel is public (city/county/state/national governments and organizations), and whether they are considering a mixed-income development.
Why is that a slippery slope? Low income housing is for families with 40%-70% of median income. Like…a school teacher, a landscaper and their two kids. Not really the material nightmares are made of.
I wish people with attitudes like yours would move to Kent or Burien. I’d much rather have low-income people living near me than intolerant NIMBYs.
They used to have a bunch of single-family homes scattered throughout the city that were designated as low-income housing. However, they sold them off a while back (one of the houses was nearby – it was snapped up and flipped before the market crash). I think that the cost vs. how many people they could help was deemed not worth it. It’s a shame though as I think it is better to mix it up as you suggest.
When I first came to Seattle in 1967, there was lots of low income housing, namely, apartment/hotels. They were rock bottom accomadation for the lowest income people. It cost as little as $10–$12 a week to stay in the cheapest ones. Sometimes there was a $1 or $2 key deposit which was returned on check-out. To get in a studio apt. nowadays with 1st and last and a damage/cleaning deposit and a background check it could $1500–$1600 and a three day wait for the background check. Apartment/hotels were open day and night, some had 24 hour desk clerks. No background check was required just a nights or a weeks rent $3–$15. There were dozens of those places downtown and scattered elsewhere around town. There were always vacancies and there were no homeless people in Seattle except a few transient people new in town and sleeping in their cars. Since those types of places have all disappeared, nothing was built or created to take their place. We desperately need more low income housing. I live in Ballard and I say; Yes! You can put it here, and more of it not less. There shouldn’t be any homeless people in Seattle, nor anywhere in America. It is a social and civic disgrace. And, yes you can use my tax dollars, instead of building more weapons of mass destruction. We already have enough of those to destroy the world.
Why wait, there’s a bunch getting drunk in Ballard Commons now, I’m sure they’ll take cash.
The problem of course is that the cause of homelessness is rarely just lacking a place to live — usually there are other problems/issues that have resulted in the person becoming homeless, and just providing them with an apartment doesn’t help with those. In any case, unless I’ve misunderstood, the proposed development is not another facility for the homeless!
In what neighborhoods do the people proposing this project live?
so we should expect the streets around Market to be “low income housing” in years to come? great.
i’ve been slowly becoming less empathetic about this…the TRUTH is, there are tons of drunks/bums/etc in Ballard now, and these rosy projects aren’t going to get them off the streets – they will jam hundreds of similar folks into the neighborhood just off Market st.
yes, i’m sure the residents will be school teachers and families try to get out of a stratch of bad luck.. when will Ballard have reached its quota so these wonderful projects can get on to other neighborhoods?
The usual response to an advocate of low income housing is a barage of often vituperative or sarcastic nonsequiters, conventional lies, ignorant shiboleths, and just meaness. As Dr. Johnson said; “The hallmark of a civilised nation is a decent provision for the poor.” He was a conservative! What has happened to Americans? They used to be horrified at the news that a single person in this city was homeless (true by the way, as late as 1973), now some, at least, relish it.
I went to the Ballard District Council meeting last night and listened to LIHI speak about the proposed low income residence they want to build at 2014 NW 57th. It would be a 40-60 unit building, with studio, 1 and 2 bedroom apartments. They would be geared toward families with a few units set aside for homeless people (women I think). And, they plan on finding low income Ballard residents for tenants. This is good. My concern is their current plans for a hygiene center. LIHI operates the Urban Rest Stop at 9th & Virginia in downtown Seattle. They service 500-800 people a day. Their hours of operation are 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. This would be the only hygiene center outside of downtown Seattle – need I say more. This type of facility is not appropriate for the neighborhood.
I just purchased a home in Ballard, and am honestly disturbed that it is becoming an area deemed appropriate to locate the chronically homeless in this city – as if because Ballard is way up over here to the north and west, it is sufficiently out of sight and out of mind. This is a neighborhood of families and retirees, and this is making Ballard much less safe, attractive, and walkable.
Low-income housing is fine…we do need more of that in Seattle. But “low income” wage earners DO NOT require hygiene centers – they simply require affordable housing. Bring in the low income, hardworking families, but PLEASE don’t put a hygiene center in my neighborhood – we don’t need more chronically homeless in the neighborhood.
so naive . .
My name is susan casdorph and I have been looking for a low income place for about 450 a month. It has been really hard to find something like this but there are places in the penney savor.Could you l;et me know where I can find a low in come olaces thank you .Susancasdorph