SEATTLE--Seven proposed affordable housing developments will receive more than $27 million in capital funding from the city of Seattle.

The funding, which comes primarily from Seattle Housing Levy funds, will help create 476 affordable apartments, including 206 for low-income families, 70 for low-income seniors, and 200 with supportive services for formerly  homeless families and individuals.

“We continue to see the impacts of the economic recession as more individuals and families are finding themselves struggling to afford housing,” said Mayor Mike McGinn, who announced the awards in the parking lot of the old Thunderbird Motel, which is proposed to be turned into supportive housing. “The city’s investment will provide affordable apartments while creating living-wage construction and building operation and maintenance jobs.”

The Thunderbird closed in 2010 after the city declared it a nuisance because of the frequent criminal activity at the site. Catholic Housing Services acquired the property and will receive up to $1.6 million in city funds to turn the motel into permanent housing with services for chronically homeless individuals, including eight apartments for veterans.

The other projects receiving funding are:

  • 12th Avenue Arts: Capitol Hill Housing will receive up to $7.7 million for 12th Avenue Arts, which will provide 88 units of housing affordable to low-income families as well as retail and community arts space. The development will be constructed on what is currently the parking lot for the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct.
  • Delridge Supportive Housing: The Downtown Emergency Service Center will receive up to $4.5 million for Delridge Supportive Housing to be constructed along Delridge Way. With 75 studios, this permanent housing will serve highly vulnerable homeless individuals on site with supportive services—such as mental health and medical support or substance abuse counseling—tailored to residents’ needs.
  • Impact Family Village: Mercy Housing Northwest and Urban Impact will receive up to $5.9 million for Impact Family Village, 61 units of permanent housing for low-income families in Rainier Beach. The units will offer a mix of affordability levels–from families earning minimum wage to those earning about $40,000 a year (family of three at 50 percent area median income). Also, 12 units will be set aside for households with a member who is disabled. The ground floor commercial space will be home to Rainier Health and Fitness, a nonprofit fitness facility run by Urban Impact, which is currently housed on the site in a mobile structure.
  • Mt. Baker Lofts: Artspace will receive up to $3.7 million for the Mt. Baker Lofts to be constructed at the former site of a Firestone Complete Auto Care next to the Mt. Baker Light Rail Station along Rainier Avenue South. The project will include 56 units designed to meet the needs of artists and their families with annual incomes ranging from about $18,000 to $36,500 for an individual and about $21,000 to $42,000 for a two-person household. The project will include set-asides for large families and disabled individuals.
  • Rainier Court III: SouthEast Effective Development (SEED) will receive up to $2 million for Rainier Court III, 70 units for low-income seniors in the Rainier Valley. This is the third phase of SEED’s mixed-use, multi-phase residential rental housing development known as Rainier Court. The previous Rainier Court developments, which are located on Rainier Avenue South between South Spokane and South Charlestown streets, include a family housing project known as Dakota and a seniors project known as Courtland Place.
  • Sand Point Phase 2b: Solid Ground will receive up to $2.3 million for Sand Point Phase 2, 54 units of permanent supportive housing with on-site services for homeless families and individuals. This project represents the final stage of Phase II of the homeless housing component of the Sand Point Reuse Plan, which was adopted in 1993 with much neighborhood input. In the late 1990s, Phase I saw the creation of 94 units of transitional housing in renovated Navy buildings. Solid Ground opened Brettler Family Place, the first stage of Phase II, in early 2011. With this final development, the 200-unit total outlined in the plan will be completed by 2012.