More than ever

In 2023, Community Roots resident board member Saunatina Sanchez and staff began researching and planning for the establishment of a Resident Advisory Council. Resident councils help elevate resident voices, foster connections between neighbors, and cultivate positive living environments. Most importantly, resident councils provide a platform for tenants to contribute feedback and ideas. Community Roots’ hope is that a resident council will give staff and residents an opportunity to engage in advocacy, problem-solving, and innovation together, guided by the lived experience of people who call Community Roots buildings home.

The Community Roots Resident Services team hosted several informational sessions throughout the year to hear what residents would like to see in a council, and ‘How to Establish a Resident Council’ was one of two main topics of Community Roots Housing’s annual leadership and board retreat in 2023. The council will launch in 2024.

In 2023, 13th & Fir, Pride Place, and Heartwood welcomed their first residents home, adding 400 new apartments to Seattle’s stock of affordable housing. We also began leasing for another 126 units at Africatown Plaza, scheduled to open in spring 2024.

13th & Fir marks an important milestone in the redevelopment of Yesler Terrace. In the early 1940s, the Seattle Housing Authority established Yesler Terrace as the first public housing development in the state and the first racially integrated public housing in the country. Census data designates the location as an area with a high risk of displacement and high level of access to opportunity. In 2018, Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority and Community Roots won a joint bid to Seattle Housing Authority to develop a mixed-use affordable housing project on a lot that previously served as the site for the King County Archives. Today, 13th & Fir stands in one of the most central neighborhoods in Seattle, offering new, current, and previously displaced residents convenient access to jobs, school, healthcare, transit, and opportunity.

Pride Place brings seven stories of new affordable housing to the heart of Capitol Hill, situated directly over retail space and a 4,400-square-foot senior community center operated by GenPride.

Capitol Hill is the historic home and cultural center for LGBTQIA+ life in Seattle. Pride Place was purposefully designed to provide safe, stable housing for LGBTQIA+ elders and allies ages 55+ to age in community. LGBTQIA+ seniors face a unique set of challenges and health disparities as they age: compared to their peers, they are more likely to be in poverty, are at higher risk for illness, are less likely to have the support of children or biological family, and often face discrimination and difficulty finding culturally competent care. The GenPride community center at Pride Place will offer health and support services, programs to reduce social isolation, a wide variety of recreational activities, and a welcoming place for LGBTQIA+ seniors from across the region to gather.

In October, Rise Together partners, community members, and new residents of Pride Place gathered to celebrate the grand opening of this groundbreaking project.

Located at Union and 14th, Heartwood brings 126 units of workforce housing to central Seattle, filling a critical need for middle-income housing in the city. Middle-income housing is a vital area of demand in housing that has not been well-met by traditional, subsidized affordable housing nor the market. Middle-income workers like healthcare workers, teachers, and nonprofit employees are being priced out of the communities they serve. Heartwood offers income-restricted housing for households making between 80% and 100% of the area median income.

The building features a cross-laminated timber (CLT) structural system, an environmentally friendly departure from more traditional concrete-and-steel buildings. Heartwood CLT was sourced from within 400 miles of Seattle from sustainably managed forests and has 1,050 metric tons of carbon dioxide stored in its wood. In addition to offering carbon sequestration, CLT offers superior acoustic, fire, seismic, and thermal performance. Currently, roughly 11% of global greenhouse emissions come from building materials and construction. Heartwood represents an opportunity to build more affordable housing while also promoting environmentally conscious building practices.

In September 2023, Community Roots broke ground on a comprehensive rehabilitation project at the Devonshire apartments, a 98-year-old brick building located in Belltown. Originally built in 1925, the Devonshire provides 62 apartments affordable to households earning 50% or less of the area median income.

Extensive rehabilitation projects like the work at the Devonshire embody Community Roots’ commitment to not just building new affordable housing, but also preserving existing affordable housing stock in the Seattle area. Over the past 10 years, Community Roots Housing has renovated 259 apartments in nine buildings to ensure that residents can remain in their communities in quality homes.

In 2023, the Community Roots Resident Services team welcomed a new program manager, provided hundreds of resource referrals, and hosted the department’s first “Spooktacular,” a Halloween-themed event that served as a touchpoint to engage with residents from across the Community Roots portfolio.

Che Sehyun, local Corean artist and musician, is a self-taught filmmaker, has served as an art curator for the Seattle Asian Art Muesum, and represented the United States Secretary of State as a cultural ambassador in 2019 to Jordan. However, the experience he says made him a man isn’t anything on his resume – it was becoming a father.

Che and his two children, ages 5 and 6, have been residents of Community Roots Housing since 2018.

Community Roots Housing properties saw vacancy rates averaging 7.2% across our portfolio in 2022. At the end of 2022, assets exceeded liabilities by $45.4 million and unrestricted cash totaled $6.9 million. During 2022 there were significant construction and related financing activities. The Boylston-Howell converted to permanent financing in 2022 after construction completed in late 2021. Construction and permanent financing were completed for John Carney in 2022. The Bremer Apartments completed construction in 2022, converting to permanent financing later in 2023. Construction continued throughout 2022 for 13th & Fir and Pride Place. Construction began in 2022 for Heartwood and Africatown. Significant transactions in 2022 included the exit of tax credit investors for the Broadway Crossing apartments and Fremont Solstice apartments.