Affordable Housing on Religious Organization Property

What's Happening Now?

To address displacement and support community resilience, we developed land use policies to support faith communities seeking to create affordable housing. This new tool gives religious organizations more flexibility to redevelop their land with long-term, income-restricted affordable housing. Read our summary of this new policy.

In June 2021, the City Council approved Council Bill 120081 with amendments, implementing a development bonus for affordable housing on religious organization land. Mayor Durkan signed the ordinance on July 9, 2021, and the legislation took effect on August 8, 2021. When they adopted the legislation, the Council also included an amendment (Amendment 1B) that lowered the average income eligibility to 60 percent of area median income (AMI) for rental housing developments permitted after July 1, 2022. In response to stakeholder concern about this amendment, we developed and transmitted additional legislation in August 2021 that revised the income eligibility requirements. In September 2021, City Council adopted Council Bill 120157 and in October 2021 signed these revisions into law in Ordinance 126445.

Council Bill 120081 responded to Substitute House Bill 1377 adopted by the Washington State Legislature in 2019 requiring cities to allow additional density for affordable housing developed on property owned or controlled by a religious organization. The affordable housing must be reserved for low-income households with incomes under 80 percent of area median income (AMI) for at least 50 years. 

Our one-page overview and narrated slideshow provided more background on the draft proposal:

Project Benefits

Displacement of Seattle residents, especially within Black, Indigenous, and communities of color, is an ongoing challenge. In neighborhoods like the Central Area, for example, the Black population has decreased from more than 70 percent in the 1970s to less than one-fifth of the neighborhood's population today. Many faith organizations have advocated for City policies that support affordable housing development on their property as a strategy to address displacement, strengthen community ties, and maintain community ownership in their neighborhood.

Allowing additional density for long-term, income-restricted affordable housing on religious property helps us address Seattle's affordability crisis and supports the many faith-based organizations eager to use their land to create homes for their low-income neighbors. When paired with the support of public funds and tools like community preference, these land use policies help address historic and ongoing inequities in housing access by supporting community-driven and community-owned development.

Get Involved

In 2020 and 2021, we engaged with stakeholders, including faith-based organizations and nonprofit affordable housing developers, to inform a proposal for development standards that support this type of development. We published our draft legislation and environmental review in March 2021 and transmitted legislation that City Council approved in June 2021.

In June 2021, we sent out a mailer to religious organization property owners, translated in several languages:

• Amharic
• Chinese (Simplified)
• Chinese (Traditional)
• English
• Korean
• Somali
• Spanish
• Tagalog
• Vietnamese

Interested in how faith-based organizations can support affordability and address displacement? Are you involved in or know of a religious group interested in community development? We would love to hear from you. Please email Nick Welch (nicolas.welch@seattle.gov) and Daniel Murillo (daniel.murillo@seattle.gov) to connect with us.

Legislation

Revision legislation transmitted to Council (August 2021) 

• Director's Report 
• Legislation (Council Bill 120157) 

Legislation transmitted to Council (June 2021)  

• Directors' Report 
• Signed Ordinance 126384
• Legislation (Council Bill 120081) 

SEPA Draft Proposal (March 2021)

• Directors' Report
• Draft Ordinance
• SEPA Checklist 
• SEPA Determination of Non-Significance

City Council Meetings 

• Public Hearing on Council Bill 120157 (September 20, 2021)
• City Council vote on Council Bill 120081 (June 28, 2021) 
• Public Hearing on Council Bill 120081 (June 23, 2021) 
• Land Use & Neighborhoods committee briefing and presentation (May 26, 2021)  

Background

In 2019, the Washington State Legislature adopted Substitute House Bill 1377, directing cities and counties to grant additional density, consistent with local needs, for any affordable housing development on property owned or controlled by a religious organization. The affordable housing must be reserved for low-income households with incomes under 80 percent of area median income for at least 50 years.

Faith-based organizations in Seattle own property throughout the city. Based on our analysis of data from the King County Assessor, religious organizations own about a little more than 300 acres of land. Some organizations may be interested in redeveloping their entire property, while others may have underutilized land, like a surface parking lot, that they want to use to create affordable housing. The case studies below are examples of affordable housing built on land owned or previously owned by faith-based organizations.

Case Studies

• Gethsemane Lutheran Church/Compass Dekko Place (Compass Housing Alliance): As the oldest Lutheran congregation in Seattle, Gethsemane Lutheran Church has a longstanding commitment to serving community needs in its Denny Triangle neighborhood and throughout Seattle. In 2012, the church completed a renovation and expansion of its original 1950s facility at 9th and Stewart into a mix of affordable housing, social services, a homeless shelter, and church spaces. The lower floors house a chapel and sanctuary, with five stories comprising 50 units of permanently affordable housing above. The ground floor is home to the Hope Center, which hosts Mary's Place Day Center and continues the community service programs the church has long provided.
  
  Photo Credit: William Wright Photography and SMR Architects.
  
  
• Arbora Court (Bellwether Housing): Arbora Court serves low-income families and individuals in the University District and includes forty apartments designated for families transitioning out of homelessness. The 133-unit affordable housing development was built on land that previously served as a church parking lot. Prior to merging with Lake City Christian Church to form Journey Christian Church, University Christian Church (UCC) sold the land to Bellwether Housing at below market value. The development, which was completed in 2018, includes on-site supportive services, a community room, courtyard, and playground for residents and their families.
  
  
  
• Compass Broadview (Compass Housing Alliance): Compass Broadview provides 58 permanent affordable homes to low-income families and individuals, families exiting homelessness, and households with a member who has a disability. Compass Housing Alliance provides residents with on-site case management, tutoring, and other services. The building opened in 2019 and is located on a parcel of land in Seattle's Broadview neighborhood purchased at below market value from Luther Memorial Evangelical Lutheran Church (LMC). LMC wanted to use this land, which at the time was partially used as a surface parking lot, to further its mission of serving individuals and families experiencing homelessness. LMC maintains ownership of an adjacent site, where the church is located.
  
  Photo Credit: William Wright Photography and SMR Architects.