0% affordable housing vacancy rate in Kennewick. City plan would add apartments

The city of Kennewick is proposing clearing out a city storage area, including its police impound lot, to allow a 52-unit affordable housing complex to be built by the Kennewick Housing Authority.

The Kennewick City Council agreed to proceed with the project, in part, because of a housing market study that showed a 0% affordable housing rate in the city in March.

The housing would face 13th Street, using the southern 3.7 acres of the 9.5-acre area site now housing city shops and storage at the corner of 10th Avenue and Gum Street.

Plans call for a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, plus amenities such as a community garden, computer lab, playground, courtyards and grassy areas.

Some of the apartments would be set aside for veterans, and the housing authority is also open to discussing some units for people who are currently homeless and for people with disabilities.

The Kidder Mathews study recommended that the apartments be rented to mostly people making 30% and 40% of the area median income, with some units for people making 50%.

The complex could be completed in 2024.

Affordable housing needs

The city lacks affordable housing, as shown by the study it commissioned from Kidder Mathews, said Evelyn Lusignan, Kennewick public relations and government affairs director.

The shortage will only increase in the years to come, given the city’s population growth, she said.

New employers moving into the Tri-Cities, including Amazon, are expected to add more than 4,500 jobs, with many of the workers expected to come from outside the area, due to the low Tri-Cities unemployment rate, according to the Kidder Mathews study.

Already rents are increasing faster than income, the study found.

New apartments being built are generally for the high-end market and some existing apartments are being renovated to allow higher rents to be charged, Lusignan said.

“We don’t control what private developers do with their property, so sometimes our options are limited,” she said at a council workshop last month.

But forming a partnership with the Kennewick Housing Authority, which would buy the city land at a cost not yet negotiated, could help address the problem.

Lona Hammer, executive director of the housing authority, said it has not evicted any previously homeless person from its housing properties and that they have been taking good care of the property.

Police Chief Chris Guerrero said the rate of police calls to current housing authority projects is comparable to other multi-family housing in the area.

The proposed project would give the city a start on vacating its 10th Avenue Shops property.

City officials have wanted to consolidate its shops and storage areas there with its Frost Municipal Service Campus at 1010 E. Chemical Drive to increase efficiency.

But a 2014 estimate of the move was more than $20 million, said Emily Estes-Cross, city economic development director.

Vacating the southern portion of the 10th Avenue Shops property would cost just 2% of that, she said.

Vehicle wash-down equipment would be moved to the Frost campus and the police impound lot also would be moved offsite, she said. The storage and laydown yard could be moved to the northern portion of the 10th Avenue property.

The city already has received a $200,000 grant from the Washington state Department of Ecology for initial work that included an environmental site assessment, the housing market study and a site development feasibility study.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., included $3 million for the project in a bill that is expected to be approved in the spring or the summer, and additional money for the project is being pursued, including through community development block grants.

Affordable housing meetings

A public meeting is planned to share information and hear public comments at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, at Sunny Slope Homes Community Center, 1915 W. Fourth Place.

It can be seen online at meet.goto.com/524415877 or can be access by calling 646-749-3122. The access code is 524-415-877.

The meeting will be repeated at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24, at the Eastgate Elementary Cafeteria, 910 E. 10th Ave.

Written comments may be mailed to PO Box 6108, Kennewick, WA 99336 or e-mailed to business@ci.kennewick.wa.us by 4:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24.