Leaders of the Tacoma Housing Authority announced plans Friday to spend about $4 million in economic stimulus money to improve about 350 senior residences around the city and start redeveloping about 140 affordable housing units in South Tacoma.
The stimulus money for the Tacoma Housing Authority is the most any agency in Pierce County is receiving through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Michael Mirra, the authority’s executive director, said the money signals the start of a federal effort to “recoup many years of underinvestment in the nation’s housing portfolio.”
“It will help with our objectives to keep housing affordable and in good condition,” Mirra said at a news conference.
He said the Housing Authority plans to begin work on its seven senior apartment buildings within the next 120 days. Crews will repair siding, roofs, plumbing, flooring and streets, as well as remove asbestos and upgrade electrical systems.
The senior housing repairs will cost between $2.5 million and $3 million, Mirra estimated, and improve a total of about 350 units. The Tacoma Housing Authority operates a total of about 1,650 housing units.
The remainder of his organization’s stimulus money will go to architectural and engineering work for a $25 million redevelopment of Hillside Terrace, a set of affordable housing developments with a total of roughly 140 units located at the 2500 and 1800 blocks of South G Street.
The Tacoma Housing Authority predicts that the senior housing upgrades will create 100 to 150 jobs, said Stan Rumbaugh, a commissioner on the authority’s board.
“We will turn this $4 million promptly into jobs and profit,” Rumbaugh said.
Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma and U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks joined housing authority officials at Friday’s news conference to voice their support for the stimulus package and for affordable housing improvements.
“Projects like this are desperately needed,” said Dicks, D-Belfair. “We want to help the new president turn this economy around.”
The Pierce County Housing Authority is receiving a much smaller amount of stimulus money – about $327,000 – than the Tacoma agency due to the lower number of housing units it manages, said spokesman Charlie Gray.
The county housing authority plans to use it to put in fences and safety improvements throughout its network of 130 single-family homes, Gray said.
“Our plans are little bit more modest because of the modest nature of the funds coming our way,” Gray said.
An additional $4 million is coming to the City of Tacoma and Pierce County government for housing projects and homelessness prevention, but government officials are still deciding how to spend it.
The stimulus package will give the City of Tacoma $772,715 in the form of community development block grants, but city officials are waiting to spend it until HUD establishes requirements for how the funds should be used, said Debbie Bergthold, Tacoma’s human services manager.
Pierce County officials are also waiting for the federal requirements. The county’s share of stimulus money from the block grant program amounts to about $827,000.
Generally, these grants can be spent on public facilities, housing needs or community programs, said Gary Aden, Pierce County housing program manager. But the rules governing the money could vary with the stimulus package, he said.
A larger chunk of stimulus money is headed to Tacoma and Pierce County for homelessness prevention. Each agency is receiving about $1.2 million.
That money can be used to help find housing for people who recently became homeless, or to help struggling renters pay their bills, Bergthold said.
Tacoma and Pierce County plan to partner to make the money go further, Aden said.
“That $1.2 million is really not a lot when you talk about the number of people in need,” Aden said.
The county’s 2009 Homeless Survey showed that 2,083 men, women and children identified themselves as being without permanent housing. That’s up by 336 people, or 19 percent, over last year.
Tacoma officials are also seeking to match the money with funds from Building Changes, a homelessness prevention group backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bergthold said.
Tacoma and Pierce County officials both plan to have the homelessness dollars contracted out by September, Aden said.
A separate pot of $834,000 in stimulus money is going to the Puyallup Tribe of Indians.
Tribal spokesman John Weymer said tribal officials will use it for housing, such as a multi-unit project above Grandview Avenue in East Side Tacoma, which is already under way.
“The money will be used immediately on that project as well as ones like it,” Weymer said Friday. “The Puyallup Tribe is grateful for the grant and interested in putting it to work right away.”
Melissa Santos: 253-552-7058
STIMULUS MONEY FOR HOUSING PROGRAMS IN PIERCE COUNTY
The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development is distributing about $9.1 million to Pierce County agencies for housing projects and homelessness prevention. Here’s a breakdown of what local governments and housing authorities are receiving so far:
TACOMA
• $1.2 million for homelessness prevention
• $772,715 in community development block grants
Total: $1.95 million
TACOMA HOUSING AUTHORITY
Total: $4 million for public housing improvements
PIERCE COUNTY
• $1.2 million for homelessness prevention
• $800,889 in community development block grants
Total: $2 million
PIERCE COUNTY HOUSING AUTHORITY
Total: $327,249 for public housing improvements
PUYALLUP TRIBE of Indians
Total: $833,573 in Native American housing block grants
Housing authorities can submit competitive grant applications directly to HUD to try and get additional stimulus funding. The department will distribute $1 billion in stimulus funds in competitive grants to housing authorities.
Pierce County and local municipalities can also apply to the state to receive money for residential lead paint removal. The state will distribute $3 million in stimulus money for lead hazard reduction projects throughout Washington.
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