VHA to develop affordable housing in Washougal

The Vancouver Housing Authority (VHA) will soon help Washougal grow its inventory of affordable housing. The VHA has purchased two parcels of land in downtown Washougal and plans to construct workforce-housing complexes -- typically defined as housing that is affordable for people earning 60 to 120 percent of an area's median income -- over the next several years. "We're really excited to develop this property," VHA Development Director Victor Caesar said during a Washougal City Council meeting on Aug. 8. "We're really early in the planning phase right now. We're working with the tenant to get them relocated. We gave them a voucher, so they're looking for a new place to live within Washougal. Later this year, we plan to demolish the house, and then starting in early 2023, we will begin planning work, designs, and community outreach, and then apply for funding applications." Caesar said the VHA hopes to kickoff the project in 2024 or 2025. "So we still have quite a ways to go," they said, "but, like I said, (we're) super excited to get this project off the ground." The VHA, the largest provider of subsidized housing and rental assistance in Clark County, is governed by a six-member board of commissioners appointed by the mayor of Vancouver. The agency works with government entities and other partners to provide affordable housing and has helped create more than 1,600 unsubsidized apartments in Clark County for people earning less than 80% of the area's median income. "We are not developing housing unless there's some form of affordability aspect," VHA Executive Director Roy Johnson told Washougal councilors on Aug. 8. "We are typically very busy with new construction as well as doing renovations every year. Over the last couple of years, we've been focusing a lot on supportive housing (for) homeless in the Vancouver area, so we're now trying to get back into doing some more of the multifamily because there's housing needs across every region." The median household income in Clark County is $106,500, and 50% of families renting a home or apartment in Clark County are "rent burdened" or paying more than one-third their salary on housing costs. Caesar said the VHA will tap into several funding sources to pay for the development, including low-income housing tax credits, Washington State Department of Commerce housing trust funds and local resources from Clark County like the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's HOME program, Community Development Block Grants and local sales tax dollars. "As we work though planning in 2023, the sources we'll be pursuing will become more clear," Caesar said. Johnson told Washougal City Council members the VHA hasn't yet set rental fees for the Washougal complex. "Depending on what the funding source is, it really directs what the rents will be," Johnson said. "Typically, we're looking at most of our properties below 60 percent income rents, and so we'll have that here. It is far less than market rent. Even with ours that we can do below 80 percent, we still set at what our payment standard is for Section 8, because we believe that people using our voucher should be able to rent from us." Caesar told the council members that the complex could include up to 80 units if the VHA takes advantage of affordable housing incentives. Councilwoman Michelle Wagner told Johnson and Caesar she was "amazed" by how "good looking" the VHA properties were. "It makes me excited that we might get something (similar)," Wagner said, adding that the property slated for the VHA housing complex is "an entryway into our city." Councilman Ernie Suggs asked Johnson and Cesar if the complex might include retail businesses on the complex's ground floor. "That depends on whatever partnerships we're able to develop," Johnson said. "We don't want to have commercial (property) ourselves, but ... if there's some way that's able to be developed or incorporated, we're more than receptive to it." The VHA developed the Camas Ridge apartments in Camas' Prune Hill neighborhood, which offer 51 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, half of which are available to those earning 80% or less of median income. Washougal Mayor Rochelle Ramos said she used to live by the Camas Ridge apartments and thought the complex was "beautiful." The mayor said she felt the property, located in the 1500 block of "A" St., which welcomes people into the city from Washougal River Road, was "one of the eyesores in town" and is "thrilled" the VHA selected the site for its future housing complex.

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