The city of Vancouver won $3.5 million in state grants for four affordable housing projects, the Washington Department of Commerce announced Tuesday.
The money comes from the Department of Commerce’s Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program. The program granted $47 million to 43 projects throughout the state.
Datepark Residence received $2 million, Parkhouse Vista received $54,000, Lincoln Place 2 received nearly $500,000 and the Waterfront Gateway received $940,000. The projects will create nearly 230 units of housing.
Parkhouse Vista will be a single-family home community for working families through the first-time homebuyer program. Datepark Residence will be for very low-income residents. Lincoln Place 2, which also received $5 million in 2023 from a different Department of Commerce grant, will offer four floors of permanent supportive housing.
“Addressing the lack of affordable housing in communities all across Washington is crucial to our economy. CHIP grants provide vital infrastructure to jump-start construction of units that will serve households most in need,” Commerce Director Mike Fong said.
Two Clark County projects received money as well. The 62nd Avenue Cottages received $180,000 and the Felida Park Senior Housing and care facility received $1.43 million. The Felida project also received $8.5 million from the Department of Commerce earlier in January.
Clark County mirrors a statewide trend of lack of affordable housing units. In 2022, Council for the Homeless cataloged more than 9,000 people who were homeless due to high rents and lack of affordable housing units. To meet a statewide goal of building 1.1 million new homes by 2044, Clark County would need to boost its housing supply by more than 100,000 units in the next two decades, according to estimates by the Department of Commerce.
“These CHIP awards support housing development with wraparound services for tenants that have very low income and need extra supports after exiting homelessness, all the way to affordable homeownership development for first-time homebuyers that will be able to start building generational wealth,” said Vancouver Economic Development Director Patrick Quinton in a statement.
Look at the full list of projects here: https://deptofcommerce.app.box.com/s/auxwkt3pqgoda5tkoyz6huwsbsqlh1j3.
