[Mayor Bruce Harrell] Okay.
We're going to get started here.
I want to thank you for being here.
I know there are some challenges getting here.
We've talked a lot about that.
But thank you for being on here for such a great celebration.
I'm going to in a moment introduce Rod Brandon,
who's really the star of what we're trying to do with his great leadership.
But let me say a few words from the city of Seattle perspective.
I want to land us in a quote grounded
in a quote by Yan Gael,
an architect, who wrote a book, cities for people.
First, we shaped the cities, then they shape us.
And the reason I wanted to start with that quote is simply that,
you know, these kinds of projects really determine how the city
sort of feels and acts and the quality of life
that we want to see for every person in this city.
Our environment sort of reflects our priorities and our values.
And the Seattle Housing Authority and their incredible local partners,
they are known for establishing collaborative partners and investors.
They design a community at Northgate Commons that prioritizes
accessibility, affordability, livability, making it easier for people
from all backgrounds a model of what great diversity looks like.
So as we stand
here, we're within walking distance of a light rail station
the North Seattle College, a public library, a community center,
a retail space that provides shopping and employment opportunities.
And that's why the city of Seattle is so proud to commit $20 million
to support the construction of hundreds of new affordable homes
here at Northgate Commons.
This is us at our best.
Realizing that housing
and affordability and making sure we have a diverse
population in our Seattle of all income levels is who we want to be.
This is a great investment.
Once the entire property has been developed, there will be twice
as many affordable homes available that when
a purchased a property and I believe
that number was around 200, 211 or so at the time.
Now the housing authority we should take note.
They've proven to this country what a successful model looks like.
When you look at what they did at Yesler and Terrace in that redevelopment,
I was very proud to be a member of the city council,
along with Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess on the council, when
that kind of redevelopment was just talk.
And then we converted that talk into a vision to a plan,
and now to a place where people actually live and are thriving.
This development comes at a time where we are advancing efforts
to make it easier and faster to build projects
like this in our community, such as cutting through the red tape,
looking at the permitting process, looking at the design review
process for affordable housing, and reforming our zoning laws.
This is incredible permit work
and process work that our team is committed to.
So our $20 million investment
builds on our existing historic investments in affordable housing.
I think many of you know, since 2022, we've added more than 6500
city funded affordable housing units.
And I'm very proud we have our director of housing here, Michael Winkler
Chan, who I think her portfolio
has increased nearly 30%,
of affordable housing since we've taken office.
And I wanna thank you for your leadership as well.
We will continue to invest in projects that meet the needs of our communities.
And just this week, your group, I believe, announced 100 million available
$100 million available for affordable housing through the most recent nofa.
The notice of funding availability, which will prioritize
the support that people from very low income to meet their needs.
That would be 30% of area median income or lower.
And we
are looking at again in that plan, homes with two or more bedrooms recognizing
we certainly want families to be here in Seattle.
So I'm very honored and proud to introduce Rod Brandon.
And I think all of you know, served as executive director of SHA since 2021.
And before that, over a decade of the director of housing
operations, who's just been a remarkable leader in this space.
And so, Rod, why don't you share some more specifics about this exciting projects?
Rod. Brandon, and thank you.
Thank you. Very nice. You want your phone? Yeah.
We needed this win.
Okay.
[Rod Brandon] Thank you. Mayor.
Thank you for that.
Great, great introduction.
And thank you.
Thank you for your continued leadership and affordable housing community.
You're just doing a great job
for this region and a great job with partnering with SHA.
Also,
thank the citizens of Seattle and the residents of Seattle.
They have been very open and great
to work with for housing affordable units in this community.
They are part of our success.
They are the reasons why we continue to do better and better as we move along.
As the mayor said, my name is Rod Brandon.
I'm the executive director for Seattle Housing Authority.
Just a little bit about Seattle Housing Authority.
Before we talk about this great,
great opportunity that we have here with the city of Seattle.
So we're big.
We have over 38,000 individuals who we serve in the city of Seattle.
We are a huge landlord.
We have just under 9000 hard units in the city.
So we're one of the largest landlords behind the University of Washington.
We have just under 13,000 vouchers
where individuals can choose where they want to live in this region.
And they can use that mobility.
We're in every single neighborhood in the city of Seattle.
So it's just pretty cool. And some of the work we're doing.
Yes. You heard the mayor talk about it.
It's a wonderful project.
It's new, it's shiny.
It's one of our flagship.
But we're just more than just a shiny building.
We want to build community.
We want to have residents thrive and give them the most opportunities
they have for their success.
Whatever they choose to do.
This project.
Here is another example of an amazing opportunity to serve our residents well.
So thank you. Thank you.
City of Seattle.
Thank you, mayor, for the financial contribution.
I can tell you.
Yesler
redevelopment would not have happened
without the City of Seattle's contribution to that project.
We would not have made it a success.
It is unbelievable.
And that will continue as we do the redevelopment here.
At North Northgate Commons,
we're looking at, redeveloping this parcel.
It's 8.5 acres.
Redevelopment.
We're really excited about that.
We had, as you heard the mayor say, 211 units on site.
The infrastructure was failing, the housing conditions were compromised,
and it wasn't to the standards and value that the city of Seattle and SHA have.
So it put us in a redevelopment opportunity.
We're going to begin that.
We're just finishing up Yesler.
We're on our last building for that.
We've been to another development, but we're going to turn our attention
to Northgate.
Once those are complete and as we move through,
a few other projects that are in our pipeline.
So we're pretty excited about that.
This opportunity, I can't tell you, you guys, you look at this area.
We're right next to, light rail.
We're right next to a strong business community.
We're right next to a park.
Around the corner.
This will help our residents and city, citizens Seattle thrive much better.
There's a college right across the freeway on that side,
giving folks the opportunity to continue their education,
seek other technical, skills that they want to have.
These are the ingredients for a thriving community.
These are the things that will make our residents thrive and do really, really
well as they go through their journey and try to break the cycle of poverty.
So we're really excited about this location.
We're really excited about this partnership with the city of Seattle
and the mayor.
So thank you again for your continued support and continue.
Just interest in affordable housing in this community is making a big difference.
So thank you.
Yeah.
- Thank you rod.
And we'll be more than happy to take a few questions.
Or we can do some pull asides.
I'm going to ask Jamie to help me a little bit,
navigate through this or any questions on this exciting project.
- Mayor. Yes, please. Two questions.
When will you anticipate this project will be completed?
- The completion date.
ah Rod
can you talk a little bit about the completion date?
- I can,
we're not ready
to talk about completion date because we've been focusing on the people.
So we have spent the last three years relocating the residents
who have been here and getting making sure that they have a place
to go, that they can continue to live and thrive in their community.
We have a number of projects, that have been in the pipeline.
We're like I said, we just finished.
We're just finishing this fall Yesler.
Soon after that, we have a couple more,
and then Northgate, fits right in that queue for development.
If you were to take a guess, I would say,
late 26, 20, 27, would be a guess for that.
But there's a lot of work, a lot of design work that needs to go in.
And what made a lot of our other projects, succseful, it's
not just us going in and doing what we want to do.
It's us checking in with the community, with us engaging
with the community, as you know, in Seattle.
That can be a lengthy process and it's unpredictable process.
So we're going to do those things.
But we're going to we're going to move forward and okay.
- Mayor, how does this how does this fit into current budget form?
- So the question is how does this fit into the current budget situation?
Well, in a tight budget, you look at your priorities.
And affordable housing is one of our highest priorities.
And so it fits right into a tough budget.
Situation.
And we're proud to make these investments, this
we believe this $20 million, in addition to the 100 million
we made available for housing, is consistent with what the people want,
and that is affordable housing.
So part of our plan here, - I had a question with the,
related to the last one.
I don't know how much I this all, but
it seems like there's a lot of instability
with how those federal agencies are being, reconfigured.
And I'm wondering if this project could be affected by this.
- And, rod, you could chime in. I'll say a few words.
A question for those that didn't hear it was, how does the instability
of federal funding play into a project like this?
Well, we monitor that.
We are very aware that there is instability in federal funding,
but we have to keep prioritizing that which is most important to us.
And so in our budget preparations, we always are preparing for that contingency.
But again, with the moneys we have available for now
and for in the future, we're going to prioritize affordable, affordable housing.
Rob, would you want to say anything to that?
- I don't think I can answer that any better.
Okay.
- Well, I mean, it's early in the process.
Is there some component that is completely dependent upon us
or we've got enough money already?
- So, as you know,
year to year operating money is different than capital and redevelopment money.
So this is, long term.
And we're looking beyond just one year.
It's unclear, as you have indicated, what the short term effect
may be on some of the changes that HUD is looking at.
We don't know. It's really, really early in the process.
And we'll adjust and we'll adapt, depending on what those conditions are.
- Okay.
Thank you very much for coming.
This is going to be an exciting project, and I hope to be able to celebrate
that that completion date that Mr.
Lynch has asked about.
But this is exciting news and thank you for being here.