Getting any project off the ground takes teamwork and collaboration. But nowhere is this more true than in the affordable housing market.

Affordable housing projects yield loyal teams who come together again and again to create meaningful, essential projects. Maybe it’s because teams are forced to rely on one another to achieve success. Together, it’s our job to help keep the train on the tracks – and it’s a high speed one! There’s a lot on the line: miss a permit checkpoint, the project’s funding is pulled. Design inefficient systems, the number of livable units is compromised. Misunderstand the client vision, the residents lose out.

Project teams return to one another again and again because the fabric of the team is what dictates if these projects sink or swim. A culture of sincere collaboration and a roster of team players is a must. The best teams work proactively against restrictive timelines, are good stewards of funding, and are sincerely invested in the outcome and final environment.

These projects afford us the opportunity to work with beautiful organizations. It’s an honor to learn about their missions, and support people and programs that are making a difference. These positive forces for good are inspiring, each taking their own approach to solving homelessness and housing shortages. Civil Project Manager, Ken Wiersema says it well, “It feels good to walk past these buildings knowing what we put into it, and knowing what others are getting out of it. These affordable housing projects, along with our school and campus programs, feel like the most meaningful work that we do.”

As project partners to these organization, we take the time to understand their mission, vision and unique point of view. And as project teammates, we are committed to supporting our AEC peers, tackling obstacles together, and investing for the long-term. We’re in it for the full journey! We ensure our involvement extends beyond project partnership alone. Supporting these organizations means volunteering time and serving on committees. It means filling tables and showing up in earnest for them come fundraising season. It means celebrating success at openings, and witnessing the community impacts it was designed to create. And it means giving respect, dignity, and hope to future residents.

Maybe this inspires you to become involved!? Or dig deeper into what these groups are doing? We’ve assembled a shortlist of some of the movers, shakers, and change-makers in Seattle’s affordable housing space. We’re lucky to call them partners and invite you to learn more about the efforts of these amazing local organizations.

Bellwether Housing
Providing affordable housing in urban King County, Bellwether Housing serves 6,000 residents each year, connecting them to job centers, local transit, and key services.

BRIDGE Housing 
Bridge Housing creates safe, healthy, and affordable housing communities up and down the West Coast. Residents serve as partners to develop community-based programs tailored to the unique needs of each BRIDGE community.

Community Roots Housing 
With a community-centered approach, Community Roots Housing develops and manages affordable homes for more than 2,000 residents across the Seattle area.

Downtown Emergency Services Center (DESC) 
DESC helps people with the complex needs of homelessness, substance use disorders, and serious mental illness achieve their highest potential for health and well-being through comprehensive services, treatment, and housing.

Housing Development Consortium
Housing Development Consortium builds, sustains, and inspires a diverse network committed to producing, preserving, and increasing equitable access to affordable homes.
Coughlin Porter Lundeen Contact: Ben Frizzell, Exemplary Building Committee

Imagine Housing
Imagine Housing residents include families, veterans, single parents, youth and adults who have been homeless, survivors of domestic violence, and people on a fixed income due to age, health, or disability. They deliver individualized support that meets every person where they are.

Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI)
Low Income Housing Institute develops, owns and operates housing for the benefit of low-income, homeless and formerly homeless people in Washington State and administers a range of supportive service programs.

Mercy Housing Northwest
Mercy Housing Northwest has served more than 152,000 people and has participated in the development, preservation, and/or financing of more than 48,200 affordable homes. With a focus on larger units, Mercy is providing spaces for families to grow roots and succeed.

Plymouth Housing
Plymouth Housing strives to eliminate homelessness and address its causes by preserving, developing, and operating safe, quality, supportive housing, and by providing opportunities for adults experiencing homelessness to stabilize and improve their lives.
Coughlin Porter Lundeen Contact: Kelly Weiler, Promoters of Plymouth (PoP)

SCIDpda
SCIDpda is a community development organization whose mission is to preserve, promote, and develop the Seattle Chinatown International District as a vibrant community and a unique ethnic neighborhood.

Seattle Housing Authority
The Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) provides subsidized rental housing and rental assistance to people in Seattle with low incomes. In addition to providing high quality housing, SHA offers tenants an array of programs to help them increase self-sufficiency and lead healthy, productive lives.

We’re sharing some of our in-design and recently completed projects, and hearing from the team members responsible for bringing them to life. Structural engineers Ben Frizzell and Hannah Stevenson, and civil engineers Ken Wiersema and Aaron Fjelstad introduce projects including:

• Open Doors for Multicultural Families Multicultural Center
• Landmark Affordable Housing
• The Broadway Center for Youth & Constellation Center
• Millworks Family Housing
• Liberty Bank Building
• BRIDGE Housing’s Spring District Affordable Housing project.

In the spirit of teamwork, each project we profile also includes a shout out to a “housing hero.” This is an individual who’s doing amazing work in the space, who our team loves working with, and who deserves a little recognition!

TEAM: Development Partner: Open Doors for Multicultural Families, Architect: Schemata Workshop, General Contractor: Walsh Construction Co
STATUS: In Design

HOUSING HERO: Ginger Kwan, Executive Director, Open Doors for Multicultural Families
Ginger and her team completely motivated us. During our kickoff meeting, we learned of story behind Open Doors for Multicultural Families, and how Ginger’s son and his needs inspired her to create the organization. The Multicultural Village will be their mission – personified. We really look forward to working with her, and learning from her, as this project continues to take shape.

Open Doors for Multicultural Families has a vision to create a Multicultural Village – a multi-generational, affordable, and inclusive housing project for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and other BIPOC and low-income community members. The project, which will be located adjacent to the new Sound Transit light rail station in Kent/Des Moines (opening 2024), fosters community and inclusivity through attentive design details and planners who intimately understand the needs of future residents. We love the video Open Doors created, that shows a day in the life of Bill, a fictional, future resident.

TEAM: Development Partner: Friends of Little Saigon, Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDpda), Architect: Mithun, General Contractor: Marpac Construction
STATUS: In Design

HOUSING HERO: Casey Huang, Mithun, Partner, AIA, LEED AP
Good people make all the difference – to how projects turn out, to how it feels to go to work each day – and Casey is one of those people who is a joy to work with. This is Casey’s market, and it shows. You can feel her passion for it when you share a team with her.

Friends of Little Saigon (FLS) purchased land for a new mixed-use development to be called the Landmark Project. It will include 71 units of affordable housing above a Vietnamese Cultural and Economic Center (VCEC). Little Saigon has experienced rapid gentrification, exacerbated by the pandemic. The VCEC will be a neighborhood anchor, combating displacement by supporting small businesses and celebrating Vietnamese culture.

Notably, SCIDpda and the team have worked hard to communicate with the community. Feedback from local business owners and residents will help shape the VCEC, and help the neighborhood know what to expect. (Include Mari Shibuya graphic, published via Community Engagement Report).

TEAM: Development Partner: Community Roots Housing and YouthCare, Architect: Weinstein A+U, General Contractor: Walsh Construction Co
STATUS: Designed, Construction TBD

HOUSING HERO: Maria Barrientos, Partner, barrientos Ryan
Maria was a critical project leader who kept this complicated venture organized, even with multiple stakeholders. She helped guide the entire team to a result that successfully combines the teaching and support spaces necessary for YouthCare with the homes that Community Roots Housing is providing. She has been a housing leader for years and her experience helped get this challenging project fully permitted and shovel-ready.

The Constellation Center will create a comprehensive system of support for youth, providing connection to resources and training right on site. A network of partners including Community Roots Housing, Seattle Central College, FareStart, and King County Center for Education and Career Opportunities all live under the Constellation Center roof too.

In partnership with Community Roots Housing, YouthCare is redeveloping the landmarked Booth Building and 909 East Pine Building site on Capitol Hill. The new nine-story affordable housing project will have 84 units of affordable housing operated by Community Roots Housing (CRH). YouthCare, which works to end homelessness in youth, will operate classrooms, offices, and meeting spaces out of the new building’s lower three floors.

TEAM: Development Partner: Mercy Housing Northwest, Architect: RMC Architects, General Contractor: Dawson Construction
STATUS: Phase I Complete

HOUSING HERO: Ellen Lohe, Associate Director of Real Estate Development., Mercy Housing Northwest
When you’re fortunate enough to have Ellen leading your project, you know it will be well organized, the consultants will be supported, and you’ll have a blast doing it. Her positive attitude and compassion for her clients is infectious, and she knows how to guide the team to deliver well-planned projects that merge the needs of the residence and development partners. In this case, it was an Early Learning Center run by the Bellingham YMCA, a very special space within the project.

In its first phase, Mercy Housing Northwest is developing 83 multi-family affordable housing units in a four-story apartment building. An aggregate pier foundation system mitigates liquefaction potential and improves bearing capacity. Steel transfer framing on the first floor creates flexible, open space for a 100-student early learning center and community event space. A prominent mosaic art installation reflecting images of Bellingham Bay will be supported on the structure at the corner of W Laurel and Cornwall Ave.

The second phase will create additional workforce housing and a community “Food Hub” with a variety of uses to support Whatcom County’s robust food culture. Plans call for a seven-story structure with five levels of residential above the two-level Food Hub. The culinary campus will create a commercial kitchen to support small local businesses, like food trucks and catering services, as well as nonprofit programs such as Meals on Wheels. The project will add an estimated 150 new jobs, offer workforce and technical training, support local agriculture with shared facilities and co-located offices, and generate public event space.

TEAM: Development Partner: BRIDGE Housing Corporation, Architect: GGLO
STATUS: In Design

HOUSING HERO: Jennifer McDougall Watt, Senior Associate Architect, GGLO
Jennifer stands out not only for her technical expertise but for her collaborative approach. She excels at listening to the needs of team members and community stakeholders, ensuring that every voice is valued. As her team members, we feel empowered and grateful for the environment she fosters. 

The Bel-Red corridor connects multiple mixed-use neighborhoods on the Eastside, including the evolving Spring District. The City of Bellevue approved the design for Bridge’s Spring District Affordable Housing project with 234 units, one component of their overarching plan to redefine urban living. Beyond the affordable housing component, the 7-acre site has the potential for almost 500 units of market-rate housing and 400,000 SF of office. The transformation of this site from light industrial uses to a vibrant urban village includes integration of a new light rail station, retail and dining experiences, and open space, to create a pedestrian-oriented community.

This is a parallel project to Bridge’s Northgate Affordable Housing, a transit-oriented development next to the growing Northgate Transit HUB. In partnership with Community Roots Housing and Ankrom Moisan Architects, the Northgate project uniquely combines affordable housing, family-sized units, and childcare services. Construction is well underway for the 235 affordable units.

TEAM: Development Partner: Community Roots Housing, Architect: Mithun, General Contractor: Walsh Construction Co
STATUS: Complete

HOUSING HERO: Doug Leigh, Mithun, Principal, AIA, LEED AP
Doug is such a large part of why we love partnering with Mithun. His consultant teams (and his projects’ final environments) greatly benefit from the expertise, creativity and leadership he brings to the table. We enjoy working with him! And appreciate the work he does in the affordable housing space. 

Project partners Africatown-Central District Preservation and Development Association, Black Community Impact Alliance, and Byrd Barr Place worked with Community Roots Housing to incorporate Liberty Bank’s cultural and historical significance into the mixed-use project. Colors and patterns are inspired by Afrocentric design, featuring art installations that honor the legacy of Liberty Bank and celebrate the black community in the Central District.

The six-story wood building provides 115 new affordable housing units, commercial space for local business owners, and a small garage. Tenant amenities include a lush and eco-conscious exterior courtyard plus a 3,000 SF rooftop deck with sweeping views, a community room with a kitchen, and secure bike storage.

The issue of affordable and available housing isn’t going away. It’s being talked about at every level, the topical events and gatherings that we attend continue to grow and grow. Committing to this market is not only rewarding and meaningful, but it’s a concrete way we can support our community. Knowing that there’s no quick fix, and that the road ahead is long, Coughlin Porter Lundeen has leadership dedicated specifically to this market. We feel lucky to be on that road with such dedicated staff, fantastic AEC teammates, and inspiring organizations.