Judge halts demolition of homes at Rainier Vista housing project

A federal judge has temporarily stopped the demolition of homes at the Rainier Vista housing project -- a victory for those who say redevelopment plans for the area will leave the city's poorest people without enough places to live.


		Phil H. Webber / P-I
	Work on razing homes at the Rainier Vista housing project in South Seattle continued yesterday -- until a second court order was handed down.

The Seattle Housing Authority says the action could cost it millions of dollars.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour on Tuesday ordered the demolition suspended until a lawsuit by tenants and housing advocates could be heard in court.

The housing authority was initially defiant yesterday morning, telling the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that it was not subject to the judge's order. Work crews continued to raze several World War II-era duplexes that have housed some of the city's poor in the South End for decades.

But the authority suspended demolition by 1 p.m. after Coughenour issued a second order clarifying that the agency had to comply.

Advocates and tenants have fought for months to stop redevelopment at Rainier Vista, which got a $35 million federal HOPE VI grant to replace 481 low-income units with 1,010 mixed-income apartments and homes.

They say the redevelopment would displace the poor and result in fewer units for them.

"It's not just what happens to the building, it has to look at what effects destroying 481 units will have on the people," said Hong Tran, an attorney with the non-profit Northwest Justice Project, which represents two Rainier Vista residents.

"This is an important decision for us in moving forward," Tran said.

Last Friday, the housing authority began demolishing some of the wood duplexes west of Martin Luther King Jr. Way near South Columbian Way.

Authority spokeswoman Virginia Felton said delays from this week's court order could cost millions. If the agency loses its demolition contract, it may incur added costs and push back construction for a year, she said.

"We're talking millions because there's strong potential that we could lose the (demolition) contract," Felton said. "It's very significant."

The housing authority, an independent public entity, has already spent $8 million in design, community organizing and relocation, she said.

Other non-profit housing projects to be built at that site may be at risk if the delay lasts too long.

Providence Health System, formerly Sisters of Providence, is building 78 units of housing for the low-income elderly. Housing Resources Group is constructing a 50-unit low-income apartment building, with almost half the units serving people with disabilities.

"If indeed the demolition and regrading is delayed for more than two months, we are in danger of losing funding" from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said Sarah Lewontin, real estate development director for Housing Resources Group.

Dan Smerken with Providence Health System shared her concern. He said his group has already asked for a second extension relating to a HUD grant.

Since Congress created the urban revitalization program in 1992, HUD has awarded more than $5 billion to remake 171 housing sites across the country. Seattle has four HOPE VI projects, all in the South End and West Seattle.

Housing activists have fought the HOPE VI projects across the country. Supporters say the program revitalizes some of the country's worst housing stock, but critics says it merely displaces poor tenants in favor of people with higher incomes.

Two residents, a neighborhood group Friends of Rainier Vista and the Seattle Displacement Coalition filed a lawsuit July 19 to stop the project after the city granted the housing authority the right to rezone the development.

They argue that the city did not take account of how the redevelopment would affect the dislocation of residents, the loss of 500 trees, changes in traffic patterns and other repercussions.

Judge Coughenour rejected earlier requests for an injunction, saying the citizens' arguments didn't have merit.

In his order Tuesday, Coughenour noted that "the court's firm view remains unchanged." He issued a temporary injunction, noting that the expedited schedule for when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hears the lawsuit would create minimal delay and "will not substantially injure" the project.

The housing authority filed a motion yesterday afternoon to reconsider.

"It's a big victory for us to put a stop to the continued demolition of perfectly good housing," said John Fox with the Seattle Displacement Coalition.

He and others argue that housing should be preserved, not torn down.

Some aren't so sure.

Outside her two-bedroom duplex at Rainier Vista yesterday, Dalita Kalehuloa, 24, said she was looking forward to moving into one of the new units because it will have carpet, washer and dryer and a dishwasher.

For two years, she lived on the west side of the housing project, where the beige and blue duplexes are now boarded up, the perimeter is fenced in and construction will begin first. Some of the homes lie crumbled in a pile of wood and glass, and trees have been cut down.

"It's time for them to come down. They're really old," said Kalehuloa, who lives with her two young daughters and works nearby.

She moved to the east side of Rainier Vista to make way for demolition. Some of her neighbors took federally subsidized vouchers and found housing elsewhere in the city. She's confident that she'll be able to return to the new units when they're built and hopes that her low rent of $150 a month will remain the same.

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