Latest news with #MedianIncome
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
77 units of affordable housing for seniors now open in Tacoma. Details here
On May 21, elected officials, leaders from the Asia Pacific Cultural Center, and project partners gathered in Tacoma's Lincoln District to celebrate the opening of an affordable project aimed at providing a dignified way of living for the community's elders. Patsy Surh Place, in the heart of Tacoma's Lincoln District at 3740 S. G St., offers 77 units of housing for Asian Pacific Islander elders and other low-income seniors. The project, which will be co-owned and managed by the Low-Income Housing Institute (LIHI) and Asia Pacific Cultural Center, is named after community leader and artist Patsy Surh O'Connell. O'Connell immigrated to America as a student from Korea in 1963. She established the Asia Pacific Cultural Center in 1996 and was instrumental in creating the Korean American Artists Association of Washington State. The new six-story building features 47 studio apartments and 30 one-bedroom units, all designated for seniors earning up to 30% and 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI). According to recent U.S. Census Bureau data from 2023, Tacoma's household AMI is $83,857. As of the grand opening, all but 11 units had been leased. During the grand opening ceremony, Sharon Lee, the executive director of LIHI, said 20 of the units would be reserved for homeless veterans who could be eligible for vouchers through the Tacoma Housing Authority. Its amenities include a community lounge, multipurpose room, gallery space, outdoor courtyard, and on-site laundry facilities. The building includes commercial space for small businesses along South 38th Street. Executive director of the Asia Pacific Cultural Center, Faaluaina Pritchard, said there are plans to incorporate cross-generational programs that encourage senior residents to visit and engage with younger generations in the community to share stories and cultural knowledge. 'This project, you can mark my words, will be a model for senior housing,' Pritchard said. 'Because it is our culture to take care of our elders.' During the ceremony Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards said the project is part of a larger investment in Tacoma's Lincoln District and marks a 'remarkable transition' for the neighborhood. 'Seniors deserve to age with dignity in the community they love,' she said. 'This is what equity in housing looks like.' She noted the city has invested roughly $10 million into the infrastructure and modernization investments into Lincoln District as part of an effort to revitalize the historic international business community. 'We believe in this neighborhood,' Woodards told the crowd. Pritchard said the Asia Pacific Cultural Center hopes to secure funding to build a second affordable housing complex directly adjacent to Patsy Surh Place in the near future. The $36 million project was made possible by multiple public funding contributions, including $18.5 million from the National Equity Fund through Low Income Housing Tax Credits, $5.4 million from the Washington State Department of Commerce, and $7 million from Pierce County made available through the Maureen Howard Affordable Housing Act. The Maureen Howard Affordable Housing Sales Tax, named after a prominent advocate for the homeless in Tacoma who died in January 2023, has made available millions in funding for affordable housing projects across the region. Patsy Surh Place is the latest project to be funded by the county as part of push to create affordable housing stock. 'To fully meet the housing needs of current and future residents, the county needs to produce, on average, over 2,300 units per year of housing affordable at or below 50% of area median income (AMI) through the year 2044,' the county's Housing Action Strategy of 2022 found. 'Over half of these units are needed for households at 30% of AMI or below.' Since its implementation in 2023, the affordable housing fund has contributed to the creation of more than 1,000 units that are either built or in the pipeline, according to Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Area experts walk potential first-time home buyers through the process
Mar. 21—"Every one of us works for you. If you don't like what we are doing, you can fire us." — Juli Rasmussen, Country Financial MOSES LAKE — How to facilitate a first home purchase was the topic of a seminar in Moses Lake Tuesday. The Homebuying Process Workshop, hosted by Opportunities Industrialization Center, or OIC, of Washington, featured three experts in home purchasing and a ton of advice for people new to the process. One of the biggest hurdles to homeownership is saving up for a down payment. OIC has a program that can help with that, said OIC Support Service Counselor Jose Vasquez. The Down Payment Assistance program will provide up to $20,000 or 20% of the home's purchase price for eligible buyers. There are other programs that can be combined with OIC's to make coming up with a down payment within reach, said Rosa Cabrera, a loan officer with Self-Help Credit Union in East Wenatchee. One is the Equity Boost program, which is open to either first-generation home buyers — people whose parents did not own a home — or those with an income of 80% or less of the Area Median Income. In Grant and Adams counties, the AMI is $90,000 per year, which makes that 80% maximum $72,000. The Equity Boost program also finances the closing costs, Cabrera added. "We have signed loans where families have bought their homes with as little as $3,000 out of their own pocket," she said. Another SHCU program, for buyers whose income might be just a little bit over that minimum, is a zero-down program, but the buyer pays the closing costs. That one involves a little more out-of-pocket expense for the buyer, she said. Both of those programs can be layered with OIC's DPA, Cabrera said, or any other assistance the buyer can find. It applies to almost any sort of housing, she said. "I can finance a home, I can finance a duplex, I can finance a triplex. I can finance a four-plex (if it's the) first-time buyer's primary residence," she said. "You have to live in the home that I will finance. If it's a duplex, you will live in one (and) rent the other. I can also finance condos, townhomes (or) manufactured homes." There are certain restrictions on a manufactured home, Cabrera added: It must be from 1994 or newer, it must be at least a doublewide. It must also be on its own lot and its own foundation. Once the financing is secured, it's time to find a house. That process can have its pitfalls, and it takes a good agent to help the first-time buyer navigate it, said Stacy Lopes of Re/Max in Ellensburg. That agent should form a team with the lender and the title company to make the process as smooth as possible, she said. "The reason I became a Realtor is because I had a terrible Realtor, and I was like, 'Oh, I can do this. I can definitely do this,'" Lopes said. The first step that buyers sometimes aren't prepared for is earnest money, Lopes said. "It's basically your promise to purchase," she said. "This seller, if they accept your offer, they're putting their house (on) pending, so pretty much no one else is going to want to look at it. So, you have to have some sort of skin in the game, a promise to purchase their place. It's typically 1% of the purchase price, but it's definitely negotiable and flexible." Once the seller has accepted the offer, the buyer has three business days to get that information to the title company, and then 10 days — not business days, that includes weekends — to get an inspection done. "That's hiring the inspector, booking it, paying for it, having the inspection, receiving the report and responding back to the seller," she said. "We have 10 days, so it's good to get on that." The inspection is likely to reveal problems in the house that need to be fixed before the purchase is complete, Lopes said. That may be a broken garage door or funky wiring, among other things. Sometimes the seller will have the problem fixed, or sometimes they'll reduce the price of the house to accommodate the buyer dealing with the issue. "That purchase price doesn't always remain that purchase price," she said. "But one thing you have to watch out for is that anytime you mess with the purchase price, you have to check back in with your lender. Not all Realtors will do that, and it creates problems towards the end. So it's really important to have great communication throughout the whole process with every party involved." The last presenter was Juli Rasmussen, an agent and financial advisor with Country Financial Insurance in Moses Lake. She emphasized the importance of not following any professional blindly simply because they're a professional. "I say this at every home buyer seminar that I do: We work for you," Rasmussen said. "Every one of us works for you. If you don't like what we are doing, you can fire us ... You have the right to do business with whomever you want, to interview real estate agents, interview insurance agents. Just because you have car insurance doesn't mean that that (insurance agent) is the perfect fit for you in your home." Insurance agents should have that same approach, Rasmussen said, and be ready to stand up for their clients. "You've got a plumbing issue, let me know," she said. "If there is a problem with that house and it was remodeled within the last year I want you to call me, because I will tell you, 'Oh no, we're going to go after that contractor. He has to warranty that work,' and I will stand right beside you and make sure it gets done on his policy, not coming out of your wallet." For more information: Antonia Mende, OIC of Washington Down Payment Assistance Program: 509-731-5332. Rosa Cabrera, Self-Help Credit Union, 509-317-7246 Stacy Lopes, Re/Max: 509-972-7459 Juli Rasmussen, Country Financial: 509-766-9197
