New affordable apartments rent out quickly

When the Vancouver Housing Authority was making the budget for 1st Street Apartments in east Vancouver, the agency projected it would take 14 months to rent out all 152 units. It took 2.5 months.

Within four months, the affordable housing complex was fully occupied, with about 125 people on a waiting list to get in — that is, if current residents leave after their six- to 12-month leases expire.

“I was getting over 500 calls a week,” said Katie Koppes, community manager at 1st Street Apartments.

The complex is just east of Southeast 164th Avenue, behind Parkrose Hardware, and features a basketball court, playground and planters for a community garden. Designed in the Northwest style, the complex is full of earthy colors, wood finishes, high ceilings and exposed timber beams in the central clubhouse, where VHA hosted an open house on Wednesday.

The housing agency showed off the apartments, with spacious bathrooms, walk-in closets and built-in washers and dryers, among other amenities. VHA purchased the 8-acre parcel of land once eyed as a housing development that stalled before the recession, for a little over $1 million with help from the city, county and neighborhood stabilization funds. The entire project cost about $30 million.

Seventy-five percent of the units are reserved for people who make 60 percent of the median income or less; prices range from $704 for a studio to $1,030 for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment. The rest are rented at market rate, but still tend to be less expensive than other apartments in the area. A two-bedroom, two-bathroom market rate unit at 1st Street is $1,075, and that price includes water, sewer and garbage, which isn’t always included these days.

Roy Johnson, executive director of VHA, said if several more of these complexes were ready to go, they would probably get leased up quickly, too. VHA does not have any projects like 1st Street in the works.

Rentals in east Vancouver tend to be slightly more available, with an estimated 2.4 percent vacancy rate, than those on the west side, with a 1.5 percent vacancy rate, though east Vancouver costs more per square foot, according to Multifamily NW, an affiliate of the National Apartment Association.

Families are drawn to east Vancouver because of the good schools, said Kalib Locke, portfolio manager for Coast Real Estate Services, which manages many VHA properties. That means 1st Street is a particularly good addition for families, Locke said. Most of the units have two or three bedrooms.

“I have people who tell me all the time, ‘I can’t afford east side,'” Locke said.

Workers earning high wages at major companies on the east side, including Hewlett Packard and Fisher Investments, want to secure housing near their work. They’re willing and able to pay more, which contributes to the rising rents, Locke said. People who are getting priced out of the east side may search for cheaper rentals on the west side, only to find there’s not much available.

Despite increasing rents, Vancouver is one of the most affordable places in the Portland metro area, where vacancy is around 3 percent, according to Multifamily NW’s apartment report. The report also said that inbound migration may come from other West Coast cities — Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco, Denver and Los Angeles — where housing is costlier. Portland and Vancouver look a lot cheaper in comparison.

“Coming from the highly problematic city of Seattle, I can tell you you’re out in front,” said Ann Melone during the 1st Street open house. She’s a business development officer dealing with low-income housing tax credit investments in the Northwest for US Bank, which contributed to the 1st Street project.

Living in Seattle, she sees the growing wealth gap, rising rents and population growth that’s not matching up with planning, she said. Average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Seattle is $2,160, according to Apartment List, a rental search site.

“Vancouver, I think, has an opportunity to get in front of the growth,” Melone said.

Patty Hastings: 360-735-4513; twitter.com/pattyhastings; patty.hastings@columbian.com