Rental subsidies for 145 units made available for seniors and disabled in Tacoma
Two local entities have partnered to help seniors and disabled residents in Tacoma gain affordable housing.
On Wednesday, Tacoma Housing Authority and Cascade Park Communities announced a partnership to help make available 145 affordable assisted-living units.
“Assisted living facilities that accept Medicaid are near impossible to find in Tacoma and Pierce County,” said THA executive director Michael Mirra in Wednesday’s news release announcing details of the plan.
“Partnering with Cascade Park Communities is a very good use of a scarce housing dollars because it makes much-needed services available to a population that often cannot afford them.”
Cascade Park Communities owns and manages two properties that will have units subsidized by THA:
▪ Cascade Park Vista, 242 St. Helens Ave., will offer 75 subsidized units, with 70 reserved for households at or below 30 percent average median income (example: less than $16,850 for a one-person household) and 5 units for households at or below 40 percent area median income.
▪ Cascade Park Gardens, 4347 S. Union Ave., will offer 70 subsidized units reserved for households in need of dementia care and/or behavioral health services who qualify for Medicaid, with 31 reserved for households at 30 percent area median income, 23 units for 40 percent AMI and 16 units for 50 percent AMI.
The partnership means THA clients who need services offered at the locations will have priority to live at one of the sites.
“This partnership will be modeled after some of the best practices used in other parts of the country to ensure that quality assisted living services remain viable and accessible to the people (on Medicaid) that need them most,” Chad Solvie, executive director of Cascade Park Communities, said in Wednesday’s news release.
Solvie told The News Tribune via email late Wednesday the two organizations had been involved in “general conversation” the past two years about best practices here and elsewhere “to ensure that affordable assisted living services were sustainable.”
The latest news comes at a good time, he noted, after the reduction of more than 100 beds providing Medicaid assisted living services locally compared with two years ago.
“Much of this is due to the challenge of an escalating wage environment combined with reimbursements that have been essentially flat for most of the past 10 years,” he wrote.
More details on the partnership and services offered are at https://bit.ly/2PCzsVu
