Kebero Court, the first new residential building opened as part of Seattle Housing Authority's Yesler Terrace redevelopment of 30 acres near downtown Seattle, has started accepting residents. People who were temporarily relocated due to demolition of aging housing at Yesler Terrace and residents who want to move from buildings at Yesler Terrace slated for future replacement have priority for apartments at Kebero Court. SHA is also accepting applications from income-eligible individuals and families who will be new to the Yesler Terrace community.

Ribbon Cutting

Yesler Terrace was the city's first public housing, built 75 years ago by the newly established Seattle Housing Authority. The redevelopment of Yesler Terrace began in 2013 after SHA, Yesler residents, a Citizens Review Committee, surrounding neighbors, city officials, nonprofit service partners and citizens at large shaped a plan forreplacing Yesler Terrace's aging housing with a vibrant new community for Yesler residents and adding a significant amount of new housing for people across a spectrum of income levels. When completed, Yesler Terrace will have up to 5,000 apartments, a 1.8-acre central park, three pocket parks, a half-mile "Green Street" loop, a new landscaped stair and ramp connection to the Chinatown International District and Little Saigon, community gardening area

s, retail businesses and office space. The community will continue to offer low-income residents a wide range of services to help them with increased education, health and employment opportunities.

Drumming Dance

Kebero Court, located at 1105 E Fir Street, was named for a style of drum important to cultural traditions in East Africa, reflecting the heritage of many who will call Kebero Court home or who live and work in the surrounding neighborhood. It has a total of 103 apartment and townhome units, a community room, and central courtyard and playground. There are accessible units for people with disabilities as well as "Breathe Easy" apartments, designed with special ventilation and surfaces to reduce incidences of asthma and other respiratory problems. The building features energy efficient appliances and lighting, and a green roof system.

The next residential building  that will open at Yesler Terrace is under construction at 820 Yesler Way. Called Raven Terrace, it will have 83 apartments for low-income residents. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.

Congratulations!  

Earns High Marks from HUD

The King County Housing Authority (KCHA) has received a score of 97.5 out of a possible 100 points in an evaluation of the physical condition of its public housing portfolio by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. KCHA's score places its portfolio among the best maintained public housing in the country. The average individual property Real Estate Assessment Center score nationally in 2014 was 82.6 points.

With the recent score, KCHA maintains its overall "high performer" designation, HUD's top performance rating for housing authorities.  HUD has named KCHA a high-performing agency every year since it began evaluating public housing authorities in 1992.

The housing authority owns and operates about 2,125 public housing units in King County. It owns or manages an additional 6,800 units of affordable housing and provides more than 11,600 households with rental assistance to enable them to rent housing from private landlords.

12th Annual  Resident Appreciation Day

Nampa  Housing Authority (NHA) held its 12th annual Resident Appreciation Day (RAD) on Friday June 26th.  This celebration is an acknowledgement of the families NHA serves.  A BBQ was held in conjunction with this event, where staff and volunteers cooked up and served over 450 hamburgers and hot dogs.  

This year was an especially big deal, as NHA celebrates its 75th year of providing affordable housing to families within the city of Nampa.  Andy Rodriguez, Executive Director said, "The mission of NHA for the past 75 years has been to provide our families with a platform to help them rise to a level, economically, where they no longer need our services."  This mission has been true in the past, and will remain so in the future, as NHA seeks out other methods of development of affordable housing units. 

In addition to this celebration, 22 bikes were given away to participating kids who wrote an essay detailing why they wanted a bike, and the benefit it would have to them.  The giveaway was the brainchild of 17-year-old OG's BAD student Marco Hernandez, who was required to plan and execute a service project to complete his juvenile drug court program.

Initially, only 5 bikes were going to be given by a local non-profit Original Gangster's Basic Academy of Development, however after reading the essays, OG's BAD program director Gustavo Sanchez said all 22 essays were so well written, he couldn't bring himself to say no to any of them.  So they found more bikes. "We were just blown away by the kids - and what they wrote and the time that they took - that we said, 'Man, I can't choose. We're just going to have to get them all one,'" Sanchez said.

One young man who Mr. Rodriguez spoke to shared with him how excited he was to have a bike, as he had never had one before, because his Mom couldn't afford one.  In the past he had to borrow friends' bikes, but now he had one that was his very own. 

With face painting, jumper houses, fire truck tours, McGruff the crime dog, and many raffle items, this year's event was a great success.  

Vancouver Housing Authority (VHA) opened its most rec ent tax credit project in east Vancouver in May 2015.

First Street Ap ar tments is a 152-unit mixed-in come property with 75% of the u nits at 60% of AMI and 25% of the units at market rate. There are 12 studios, 42 one-BR, 72 two-BR and 26 three-BR units. The project is 65% pre-leased after just one month. We received State Housing Trust  funds and City of Vancouver and Clark County NSP funds to help with financing. The project is close to jobs and other amenities