The Vashon Terrace apartments, an apartment building that serves low-income families, has been purchased by the King County Housing Authority (KCHA), ensuring that it will continue to serve islanders in need.
The apartment building is a 16-unit complex that was built as affordable housing in 1978 and since then has been part of the federal Section 8 program, which provides rent subsidies to those who qualify, said Rhonda Rosenberg, a spokeswoman for the housing authority. The owners of the property, who prefer not to be named, owned nine such complexes around the Puget Sound region, including three others in King County. They put them all on the market early this year as part of an “all or none” sale, Rosenberg said, and KCHA stepped in at that time to maintain the housing for local-income use.
This is good news for Vashon, said Chris Szala, the executive director of Vashon HouseHold, an island nonprofit that provides affordable housing but is not involved with the purchase.
“I think it is fantastic that the housing authority was able to pick it up,” he said. “Anytime we can keep any affordable housing on the island is just key and crucial to so many people here.”
In particular, Szala said, there is a large need for affordable apartments on the island.
Currently at the Vashon Terrace apartments, situated just behind the Vashon Library, there are 14 children and nine families who each have a member with special needs. The average household income there is about $14,000. All the families will remain as tenants, Rosenberg said.
Throughout King County, the demand for low-income housing far exceeds what’s available, Rosenberg said, and there are virtually no market-rate rental units affordable to families earning 30 percent of the area’s median income, or $23,400 for a family of three.
King County has also provided $1 million for needed repairs and upgrades to the apartments in its jurisdiction, including Vashon Terrace.
Al Davis, a business representative for the former owners of Vashon Terrace, listed as the Vashon Terrace Associates, said they had received additional offers on their properties but were pleased to sell the buildings to the housing authority.
“King County matched their personal values,” Davis said. “Everyone is very pleased. The whole process was a really good process.”
The combined purchase price for the nine properties was $28.7 million. The housing authority is acting as the lead purchaser on behalf of four local housing authorities to preserve the apartments. All the properties will continue to be managed by Westwood Management in Redmond.
