When Reach Community Development first acquired 3.4 acres in central Vancouver, there was a horse roaming around the grassy site. Today, there’s a slate blue and cream colored building that will provide 49 units of subsidized housing for low-income seniors.
Isabella Court is slated to open in November and has already drawn interest from about 50 seniors in Clark County and Portland — not surprising given the regional housing crisis impacting people of all ages. However, when Ben Sturtz, Reach’s housing project manager, got on board, he thought only seniors living nearby would be interested in the property.
The building at 3112 N.E. 62nd Ave. is about 85 percent complete. To qualify to live there, residents have to be age 62 or older and earn no more than 60 percent of the area median income. That comes out to $31,040 for a single person, or $35,470 for a two-person household. Ten units will have project-based Section 8 vouchers targeted at households earning 30 percent or less of the median family income.
Rents will range from $626 monthly for a 570- to 705-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment to $866 for a 850-square-foot two-bedroom unit. There are common areas on each floor, two laundry rooms, a community garden and decks with views of Mount Hood.
Isabella Court Funding
• $4.9 million in 4 percent Low-income Housing Tax Credits.
• $3.9 million in tax-exempt bonds and deferred developer fee.
• $3 million from Washington State Department of Commerce.
• $311,949 from Clark County.
• $206,785 from Vancouver.
• $169,239 Reach sponsor loan.
Portland-based nonprofit Reach Community Development inherited the Isabella Court project after merging with Affordable Community Environments in 2013. Reach owns and manages affordable housing around the metro area, but Isabella Court is its first construction project in Vancouver.
“I think there’s a booming senior population in Clark County, even more so than we’re seeing in Portland. Portland is becoming more of a millennial destination. Here, it’s cost-burdened seniors that are really affected a lot,” Sturtz said. “In suburban locations, you often have folks that have lived in the community their entire lives and don’t want to have to leave when they get older to find affordable housing. Our idea is really to try to keep them here.”
More than 40 percent of Reach clients are seniors, said Dan Valliere, Reach’s CEO. While the nonprofit doesn’t only serve seniors, that population has been a main focus. The nonprofit is discussing how to better coordinate its senior clients with services, such as the Area Agency on Aging and Disabilities of Southwest Washington, so they can remain relatively independent as they age.
Valliere said Vancouver has the rare opportunity to get ahead of its housing crisis. The city has comparatively lower land prices than Portland, but those costs are rising quickly.
“Central parts of Portland now are getting so expensive to develop in,” Valliere said. “This is the time to try to do what we’re doing here: Build as much affordable housing as we can now.”
Building in Vancouver is more affordable than even in Hillsboro, Ore., another Portland suburb where Reach manages three properties, Sturtz said, and Washington has more financial resources. Reach is one of the few organizations developing affordable housing on both sides of the Columbia River.
The organization endorsed the proposed affordable housing bond measure in Portland and Vancouver’s proposed affordable housing levy. At a rate of 36 cents per $1,000 assessed property value, Vancouver’s levy would generate $6 million annually for seven years to buy, build and preserve low-income rental housing, and prevent homelessness. It’s on November’s ballot.
Valliere said both taxes basically do the same thing and advance Reach’s mission on the Oregon and Washington sides of the river.
“It’s one big region. It’s a housing crisis everywhere in this region. In that sense, it’s the same problem,” Valliere said.
Sturtz said he’s seen an all-hands-on-deck mentality in Clark County where people and organizations that can address the local housing crisis are working together.
Reach plans to develop more housing in Clark County starting with another building at 3112 N.E. 62nd Ave.
Isabella Court takes up about 1.7 acres on the north side of the 3.41-acre property, leaving room to build a nearly identical building on the rest of the land.
That project will be geared toward people with disabilities and will have more fully accessible units. The city of Vancouver committed $100,000 to that project, and Clark County committed $250,000, Sturtz said.
Reach is applying for $2.1 million from the Washington State Department of Commerce, but competition is fierce. Sturtz said there are eight times as many proposed housing projects statewide vying for this funding as there is money to support them.
