Most price-restricted housing in the region is funded directly by cities, counties, nonprofit groups, charitable donations and other sources. The City of Bellevue works to fund affordable housing projects with good leverage rates, meaning that others are also chipping in to make the city's dollars go furthest.
Affordable housing creation in Bellevue
There are many mechanisms by which affordable housing may be built or preserved in Bellevue. Some incentives exist for developers to include affordable housing as a portion of their market-rate project. Details about this can be found at Constructing Affordable Housing.
The city also partners with ARCH to fund projects through a Housing Trust Fund process along with 15 other member cities and King County. Additionally, the city also has a Capital Investment Program, which allocates about $2 million a year towards affordable housing. Other funding mechanisms include tax revenue collected under state laws such as House Bill 1590 and House Bill 1406.
The city also partners with the King County Housing Authority and major employers such as Amazon and Microsoft, which have committed funding towards creation and preservation of affordable housing.
Each year, the city receives funds from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for housing and community development activities that address priority needs locally identified by the city that include assisting low- and moderate-income residents with:
- Provision of decent housing
- Providing suitable living environments
- Expanding economic opportunities
Projects in Bellevue
The city maintains an affordable housing inventory map, which has all regulated affordable housing in Bellevue.
Recently Funded Projects
The city has funded a number of projects over the years. Recently, the following project funding efforts have been approved by City Council:
- Eastgate Men's Shelter: $3.6 million was additionally allocated for the Congregations for the Homeless/Eastside Men's Shelter by the council on July 19, 2021. This funding advanced the city policy objectives to ensure completion of a long-planned permanent, year-round 100-bed shelter for homeless men, support project enhancements identified through the Good Neighbor Agreement Advisory Committee process, and to work with state, county and local funding partners.
- Eastgate Supportive Housing: $400,000 was additionally allocated for the Plymouth Housing Group/Eastgate Permanent Supportive Housing project on July 19, 2021. This funding advances city policy objectives to create a 95-unit permanent supportive housing project with preference to serve homeless individuals referred from Eastside shelters, while leveraging state, county and local funding partners.
- Illahee Apartments: $4 million was allocated to the King County Housing Authority for preservation of the 36-unit Illahee Apartments on July 19, 2021. This funding award advances city policy objectives, including: preservation of affordable housing; preventing displacement of existing residents; providing immediate housing opportunities for homeless families in the community; leveraging private philanthropic support; and creating permanently affordable housing that will serve very low-income residents well into the future.