Vulcan unveils plan for affordable housing

Thursday, February 2, 2006

Vulcan unveils plan for affordable housing
South Lake Union complex called step in the right direction

By PAUL NYHAN
P-I REPORTER

Vulcan Inc. unveiled plans Monday to build affordable housing in South Lake Union that's aimed at allowing teachers, laboratory technicians and health care workers to live closer to their jobs in the burgeoning area.

Later this year, the Paul Allen-owned company will break ground on a 53-unit apartment complex for such lower-income workers -- not the poor, but those making 80 percent of King County's median annual income, or roughly $43,000 for one person.

Once it's completed in 2008, the 33,000-square-foot building will become another pocket of relatively affordable housing in a city that has struggled at times to maintain its working-class housing stock as real estate values have soared.

Vulcan, though, priced its new apartments beyond the reach of the janitors, security guards and other lower-wage workers around South Lake Union, according to City Council President Nick Licata.

A worker earning twice the state's minimum wage of $7.76 an hour would not reach even 60 percent of King County's median income, Sharon Lee, executive director of the Seattle-based Low Income Housing Institute, pointed out.

"Yes, (one) I'm glad they are doing this. But two, it's not the housing that is going to provide housing (to those) most in need of housing," Licata said Monday.

Vulcan said it's creating the site to relieve pressure on workers with moderate incomes.

Although South Lake Union already has some housing for poor families -- the 50-unit Denny Park Apartments recently opened to low-income renters -- the area doesn't offer workers earning $30,000 to $40,000 a year many options, according to Alison Jeffries, real estate marketing manager at Vulcan.

With the project, Vulcan also fulfilled a commitment it made when it paid Seattle $21 million for eight parcels of land in 2001.

As housing prices rose over the past 15 years, working-class families have gotten squeezed, and the number of lower-income Seattleites paying more than the recommended 30 percent of income on rent has risen, according to city and county data.

More families have been heading south of the city where there is more affordable housing, said Doreen Cato, a member of the King County Housing Authority Commission.

Cato added that Vulcan's latest plan is a step in the right direction.

"They are trying to make a difference, and I think we want to encourage trying to make a difference and not do nothing."

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