Affordable Housing Communications

RFP Announcement - Requests for Proposals | City of Kenmore Washington - City published 7/2023

City Council Meeting December 4, 2023
Agenda and Recording

City Council Meeting March 25, 2024
Agenda and Recording

City Council Meeting June 17, 2024
Agenda and Recording

Staff Contact

Tambi Cork
Housing and Human Services Manager
Tel: (425) 398-8900
tcork@kenmorewa.gov

Imagine Housing building The Approach at Kenmore - Affordable Housing

A high-level conceptual rendering of The Approach, provided by Imagine Housing.

Project Update

Located at 7010 NE 181st Street the proposed Imagine Housing building The Approach at Kenmore is a mid-rise building that will feature more than 100 apartments, including studios and 1-3 bedroom units, and more than 15 homeownership units through Habitat for Humanity.

The rental units are proposed to serve low-income households that have an income up to 50% and 60% Area Median Income (AMI). The ownership units are proposed to serve low-income households that have an income up to 80% AMI.

For specific information on the project please visit The Approach at Kenmore · Imagine Housing

Through its efforts on this property, the City is demonstrating its commitment to affordable housing and the City’s vision of a project that will enhance the neighborhood around the City’s downtown core and do our part to tackle our region’s affordable housing crisis.

Additional Information:

Project Background

The City chose to not prescribe an exact number of units at specific levels of affordability in order to allow respondents to be creative in their designs while also ensuring that there is serious consideration paid to the opportunity to provide condominium-style affordable ownership units at the site. The goal of the partnership is to create an equitable, cost-efficient, visually appealing, and high-quality mixed-use building(s) to be built and ready for occupants to move in by the end of 2027.

RFP Process

The City of Kenmore released a request for affordable housing development proposals for a City-owned property located at 7010 NE 181st St. in Kenmore, Washington in August 2023. The City asked for a mixed-use building(s) to include a community/commercial ground floor space. The City chose to not prescribe an exact number of units at specific levels of affordability in order to allow respondents to be creative in their designs while also ensuring that there is serious consideration paid to the opportunity to provide condominium-style affordable ownership units at the site.

The goal of the partnership is to create an equitable, cost-efficient, visually appealing, and high-quality mixed-use building(s).

The City selected the proposal submitted by Imagine Housing and brought that proposal to the City Council for approval on December 4, 2023. Agenda materials available here

City Council and Agenda Items

At the December 4, 2023, City Council meeting, the Kenmore City Council approved the selection of the proposal submitted by Imagine Housing and provided staff direction to initiate negotiations for a threshold determination, development agreement, property sale price and property transfer agreement. Staff will return to Council in the first half of 2024 for any further action or updates related to this housing development. December 4, 2023 Council agenda materials available here.

At the September 30, 2024 City Council meeting, the Kenmore City Council will consider the approval of a Letter of Intent with Imagine Housing. This document will outline a preliminary agreement of the terms for the Purchase and Sale Agreement for the property. The documents for this Council meeting, including the Letter of Intent, will be uploaded on Friday, September 20.

Imagine Community Engagement

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the City’s goals related to affordable housing? Are we required to create a certain number of new low-income housing units? If so, where is that requirement from and what are the specifics? How would the requirement be enforced?

House Bill 1220 (2021) amended the Growth Management Act (GMA) to instruct local governments to “plan for and accommodate” housing affordable to all income levels. This strengthened the previous goal, which was to encourage affordable housing. House Bill 1220 also directed the Department of Commerce to project future housing needs for jurisdictions by income bracket and also made updates to how jurisdictions plan for housing in the housing element of their comprehensive plans. Commerce provided the information in 2023 and in fall of 2023, King County adopted Ordinance 19660 to reflect that information in Countywide Planning Policies and created a dashboard for King County Housing Needs.

On the second tab of the King County Housing Needs dashboard, specific allocations for the City of Kenmore are available.

The City’s Comprehensive Plan must be consistent with the Countywide Planning Policies. Kenmore’s Housing Element of the Comprehensive Plan was updated in 2022, prior to these jurisdictional housing allocations. Further amendments to the Housing Element for consistency will be considered in 2024.

King County will monitor compliance with each jurisdiction’s actions to plan for and accommodate its share of the countywide housing need, as outlined in sections H-27 to H-29 of the ordinance. Monitoring will be reviewed every five years, and “Jurisdictions with significant shortfalls shall identify and implement actions to address the shortfalls, such as amending the Comprehensive Plan, land use regulations, or other legislative or administrative actions. Implementation of this policy shall be coordinated with the requirement in RCW 36.70A.130(9)(c) to produce and take actions pursuant to a five-year implementation progress report.” (section H-29, page 14).

Why is the City selling this property at below market value to Imagine Housing?

Affordable housing has been a stated high priority for City Council (#1 priority in 2021 and 2022, #2 in 2023, and #1 in 2024) and the City saw an opportunity to jumpstart the building of affordable housing units by contributing underutilized city-owned property.

What is the permitting process and timeline for the Imagine and Habitat housing development?

Imagine Housing submitted the required preapplication materials in June 2024 and had a pre-application meeting with Development Services in July 2024. This is a first step in the permitting process and the initial review by Development Services in the coming months will give a better estimate for the complete permitting steps and timeline.

Does the City have any recourse if there are issues with the development of the property?

Yes. Any purchase and sale agreement will contain terms related to expectations for the development of the property, and recourse for the City if those expectations and obligations are not met. Staff expect to bring the Purchase and Sale Agreement to Council for consideration in the first quarter of 2025. Once built, the land will additionally be subject to a land covenant to require affordability and will be monitored by funders (including ARCH, who would be managing any funds donated by the City of Kenmore).

Additional Housing Resources and Information

Find more information about Kenmore's planning initiatives, including affordable housing, the Housing Strategy Plan and "Missing Middle" housing here.