Getting to the "why"

In 2019, Community Roots identified two major focuses in strategic planning moving forward: residents and racial equity. We set a goal to more effectively center resident needs and to foster more equitable outcomes in our work. To that end, Community Roots has spent the past year reworking the organization’s mission statement, strategic vision, and objectives to chart out actionable progress toward these goals. After surveying hundreds of stakeholders and incorporating their feedback, Community Roots Housing has adopted a new mission statement:

Responding to our region’s acute housing crisis requires forward thinking and powerful visions. We need deep, transformative partnerships that bring community and thought leaders together. Community Roots is one of six organizations that comprises Rise Together, a collaborative of Seattle-area nonprofits working together to raise funds to support six community-driven development projects in the Central District, Capitol Hill, and White Center neighborhoods. Partners include Africatown Community Land Trust, Byrd Barr Place, Community Roots Housing, GenPride, Southwest Youth & Family Services, and the White Center Community Development Association.

Rise Together is based upon an understanding that those we serve—including people of color, immigrants and refugees, LGBTQIA+ elders, and low-income families—are being left out of the opportunities afforded by our region’s economic growth. With shared resources and a strong collaborative model, we can better support our equitable development projects that provide affordable homes and a myriad of community-based services for people who live, work, and play in three rapidly changing neighborhoods. Together, we have raised over $36 million in private philanthropy and competitive public grants since Rise Together launched in 2018. This funding helped bring the Liberty Bank Building to the heart of the Central District, serving as a center of African American and African diaspora life in Seattle. Capitol Hill will have the state’s first LGBTQIA+ affirming affordable senior housing development with life-affirming resources. White Center, one of greater Seattle’s most ethnically and income-diverse neighborhoods, will have a “HUB” (standing for “Hope, Unity and Belonging”) featuring affordable housing, integrated physical and behavioral healthcare, youth and family services, and community spaces.

These buildings meet communities where they are, centering their needs and priorities while putting a stake in the ground against forces of displacement. But with inflation and construction costs escalating, the goalposts keep moving. As of today, we need to raise a total of $45 million to make all these projects a reality. With three projects completed and two more under construction, our vision is within reach.

Raising the remaining $9 million within the next year is critical and will require more extraordinary partnership with our philanthropic, government, and individual supporters. If you’re interested in learning how you can support this effort, visit risetogethernow.org.

Throughout 2022, the Community Roots Resident Services team celebrated several milestones, including the administration of $1.3 million in federal rental assistance. The portfolio-wide effort helped roughly 40% of Community Roots households eliminate their rental arrears and avoid debt accumulation. In acknowledgment of the overwhelming economic, physical, and social stressors of the last three years, the team employed door-to-door outreach to ensure as many residents as possible had access to aid. The team’s referral-based approach made over 1,000 connections to services including additional help with rental assistance, utility payments, and other forms of direct support.

The team continued to focus on accessibility for resident-centered projects. Over the past year, Resident Services piloted a diaper program as well as a food security program to assist households with grocery access. After two years of modified iterations, the annual Back to School events once again took place – dozens of staff and volunteers traveled to five different Community Roots buildings to distribute free school supplies to students. The team, with the help of community partners and volunteers, passed out over 150 backpacks, notebooks, books, and pencil box materials alongside facepainting and free meals.

Resident Services is guided by the expressed needs of residents throughout Community Roots’ 45 buildings, and the team is looking forward to building out responsive programs in the coming year.

Community Roots has nearly a dozen projects in our development pipeline, comprising over 1,400 new affordable apartments set to open in the next five years.

Community Roots Housing properties saw vacancy rates averaging 5.9% across our portfolio in 2021. At the end of 2021, assets exceeded liabilities by $48.1 million and unrestricted cash totaled $7 million. During 2021 there were significant construction and related financing activities. The Bonanza project to rehabilitate three existing properties (Ponderosa, El Nor, and Eighteenth Avenue) completed lease up activities and converted to permanent financing in 2021. The Station House project also closed on permanent financing in 2021. In late 2020 to early 2021, refinancing closed on another rehabilitation project of three existing properties (Boylston Howell, John Carney, and Bremer). Construction for Boylston Howell was completed in late 2021; John Carney and Bremer construction continued into 2022. Four projects closed on construction financing in 2021, of which two began construction in 2021. In partnership with Seattle Chinatown International District PDA, Community Roots closed on financing and began construction on a 156-unit affordable housing project in Yesler Terrace. Similarly, construction financing closed, and construction began on a 118-unit LGBTQIA-affirming affordable senior housing project on Capitol Hill known as Pride Place, a partner project with GenPride. In partnership with Africatown Community Land Trust, Community Roots closed on financing for a 126-unit affordable housing project in the Central District known as Africatown Plaza, which began construction in 2022. Lastly, construction financing closed on a 126-unit middle-income affordable housing project known as Heartwood, for which land for the site was purchased from the Helen V Apartments in 2021. Significant transactions in 2021 included the sale of the CHDA Lake City property to Chief Seattle Club and the sale of Squire Park Plaza to Low Income Housing Institute.