Tacoma affordable-housing units to get $150M+ in renovations. Details here
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Tacoma Housing Authority secured $158M+ to rehab 316 units across two sites.
- Renovation scope includes roofs, windows, heat pumps, appliances, plumbing.
- THA will temporarily relocate residents onsite about six weeks to retain community ties.
The Tacoma Housing Authority (THA) announced it has secured funding to rehabilitate over 300 of its existing affordable-housing units.
THA said 316 units which can house roughly 1,000 people will be renovated and upgraded over a two-year period.
THA secured more than $150 million in funding to upgrade townhomes in northwest Salishan in Tacoma’s Eastside and Hillside Terrace 2300 in the Hilltop neighborhood.
THA Spokesperson Nick Tolley told The News Tribune both properties were in need of modernization as they were built or last updated between 2002 and 2005.
Tolley said the renovations will include:
- New roofs
- New windows
- Heat pumps
- Upgraded appliances
- Flooring
- Cabinets
- Countertops
- Interior and exterior painting
- Modernized plumbing and electrical fixtures
- Comprehensive site improvements
“Salishan and Hillside Terrace are family properties at their core,” said director of Asset Management and Real Estate Development for THA, Ken Short, in a statement. “This resyndication is more than a construction project — it’s an investment in children, parents, and neighbors who deserve high-quality, safe, and sustainable housing.”
Tolley said residents would be temporarily relocated to a housing unit within the same property to keep households in their same community. The relocation will be for about six weeks while construction happens.
According to THA, 55% of households whose homes will be rehabilitated include children, and 73% are extremely low-income, earning less than 30% of Area Median Income (AMI).
Tacoma’s household AMI is $83,857, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau data from 2023.
The average annual income of these households is $28,918, according to THA.
The renovation is backed by over $158 million in funding from multiple sources, including a $10 million award from the Washington State Department of Commerce, dedicated to energy-efficiency upgrades, including new windows and heat pumps with air conditioning.
More than $59 million will be funded from a 4% tax credit equity, $22 million through a tax-exempt permanent loan and more than $51 million from additional financing and loans.
THA says the project was made feasible by the Internal Revenue Service’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, a program in which affordable-housing providers seek to secure a new allocation of tax credits for the purpose of preservation, rehabilitation or sustainable development.
Tolley says construction will begin in mid-January.
