Seattle's Social Housing Developer Buys Youngstown Flats, and Nearly 200 West Seattle Homes Stay Affordable Permanently
The roughly $68 million deal is the young agency's second acquisition. Residents get a two-year rent freeze, free transit passes, and an end to junk fees.
The Seattle Social Housing Developer has announced its second acquisition: Youngstown Flats, a six-story building with nearly 200 homes in West Seattle, purchased for about $68 million in a deal expected to close in mid-December.
The agency's board approved the purchase Tuesday night. The building, opened in 2013, averages more than 800 square feet per home, with nearly 50 two-bedroom apartments and 10 ADA-accessible units. With Youngstown, the developer owns almost 350 homes, against a goal of more than 1,000 by the end of 2027.
The affordability story is the point of the agency. The building's current owner allowed its MFTE affordability program to lapse; the Social Housing Developer will replace it with a permanent affordability program, protecting about 30 current residents from displacement.
The announced resident terms are specific: a two-year rent freeze through December 2028, free one-year ORCA transit passes, the elimination of junk fees, and a phase-out of RUBS utility charges in the first year.
Social housing — publicly owned, permanently affordable, mixed-income — was the model Seattle voters created the developer to build. Youngstown Flats is the second proof of concept, and the first in West Seattle.
