Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Arch Housing Trust Fund topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bellevue directs staff to prepare $1.81 million allocation to ARCH housing trust fund
Summary
The Bellevue City Council voted to direct staff to prepare legislation approving the city’s $1,810,900 contribution to ARCH’s Fall 2024 Housing Trust Fund round. ARCH recommended three regional projects; Bellevue’s share will support the coalition’s pooled investments to leverage state, county and private financing.
Bellevue City Council on Jan. 28 directed staff to prepare legislation to allocate $1,810,900 from the city to the ARCH (A Regional Coalition for Housing) Fall 2024 Housing Trust Fund round, a move councilmembers said will help leverage larger state and federal awards to produce affordable units across East King County.
The council’s action will bring a proposed funding ordinance back to a future meeting for final approval. The ARCH Executive Board and its Community Advisory Board both recommended the round’s slate unanimously, ARCH staff told the council during a study session.
ARCH Executive Director Lindsay Masters described ARCH as “a coalition founded by Bellevue and other eastside cities to work collaboratively on creating more affordable housing” and said the trust fund is intended to coordinate local funds so projects can attract larger sources such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and state trust fund awards.
Deputy City Manager Nathan McComhan told the council the ARCH Executive Board had “very high confidence in the recommendation” and that the Community Advisory Board had vetted applications against the coalition’s strategic priorities.
ARCH presented three recommended projects for the round to member-city councils. ARCH staff emphasized the regional leverage of local dollars, saying ARCH’s long-term average leverage is roughly $15 of additional funding for every $1 of local money, and highlighted recent state and county awards that align with ARCH-funded projects.
Patrick Tippie, ARCH investments manager, described the recommended projects at a regional level: a senior housing development by Together We Grow and Imagine Housing creating about 175 units; supplemental funding to the Aventine (Aventine/Lehigh) project in Bellevue that serves a range of households including people exiting homelessness; and a Community Development Block Grant–funded acquisition in Issaquah by Life Enrichment Options to preserve a four-resident group home for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Councilmembers asked staff for additional context about projects that were not recommended this round, unit size distribution (noting most proposed units in this tranche are studios and one‑bedrooms because two of the recommended projects are senior or acquisition transactions), and the per‑jurisdiction voluntary contributions to ARCH. Staff said a detailed funding breakdown and the list of member-city contributions are included in the ARCH memo and attachments.
Motion and next steps: Deputy Mayor moved to direct staff to prepare legislation for the $1,810,900 award; the motion was seconded and passed unanimously. Staff will return with ordinance language and contract documents for council consideration.
