Housing Hope outlines Scriber Place for students and 154-unit Alliance Place for Lynnwood

On June 17 at a Lynnwood City Council work session, Housing Hope presented detailed plans for two affordable-housing developments that will serve South Snohomish County residents, including several unit types targeted to families and students experiencing homelessness.

Kat Opina, chief executive officer of Housing Hope, described the nonprofit’s mission and countywide portfolio, and framed the two Lynnwood projects as part of a multiyear strategy to add deeply affordable housing. "Housing Hope's mission is to promote and provide affordable housing and tailored services to reduce homelessness and poverty for residents of Snohomish County and Camano Island," Opina said.

Rachel Down, Housing Hope’s chief strategic officer, said Scriber Place — on surplus school district land adjacent to Cedar Valley Elementary — will provide 52 affordable units specifically for families tied to the Edmonds School District’s McKinney‑Vento referrals. "We are building 52 units of affordable housing on this site and it will be specifically for students who are homelessness and are enrolled in the Edmonds School District," Down said, and she gave the planned unit mix: nine one‑bedroom units, 25 two‑bedrooms, 12 three‑bedrooms and six four‑bedrooms. Down said the school district will supply referrals for McKinney‑Vento qualifying families and that lease‑up will be handled via that referral stream.

On Alliance Place — the transit‑oriented parcel adjacent to the Lynnwood City Center light‑rail station that Housing Hope won through an RFP — Down said the plan calls for two eight‑story buildings totaling 154 units with below‑grade parking, a substantial commercial component for community‑serving uses (including behavioral‑health office space and a four‑classroom childcare satellite for Tomorrow's Hope Child Development Center), and design features to daylight an underground stream where feasible. "We were lucky enough to be awarded the RFP," Down said. She described stream‑daylighting and said the design team is coordinating environmental review, buffers and tribal consultation to try to retain the existing stream length while enabling development.

Council members asked specifics about safety and site access. Councilmember Mata raised concerns about security near the light‑rail station and asked how staff would separate public uses from residential areas. Down responded that residential entrances will be secured with fob access, that there will be different public and residential entries, and that fencing and interior access plans are still being refined. "There will be secure like fob entrances for the residential portion," Down said.

Opina and Down also reviewed funding and schedule: Housing Hope said it received state capital budget predevelopment funding and a contribution from Amazon's housing equity fund to cover predevelopment work, and that the Sound Transit parcel is being made available at a deep discount under the TOD formula (staff cited an appraised parcel value of about $4.8 million and the transit agency’s TOD pricing approach). Down said the earliest construction schedule is a 2028 start for the east building and 2029 for the west building, but added that both buildings and timing are contingent on assembling multiple public funding sources and tax credit allocations.

City council members expressed support and asked staff to follow up with more detailed site diagrams and environmental coordination. Housing Hope committed to provide updated site plans and to return as the projects progress through land‑use and funding milestones. The projects now move into permit and funding application stages; council members offered to assist with outreach and advocacy for public funding where appropriate.

Next procedural step: Housing Hope plans to submit land‑use permits this summer and building‑permit applications in early 2027, with construction and final timelines dependent on successful financing.