The city of Redmond adopted a fully funded affordable housing project last week after nearby Kenmore pulled out of the original deal with Plymouth Housing.
Redmond City Council held a special meeting Tuesday to consider using city-owned property at 16725 Cleveland Street for the project. The council voted 5-1 to authorize Redmond Mayor Angela Birney to “pursue and execute the transfer of property.”
“I do think this is an incredible opportunity for our city,” City Council President Vanessa Kritzer said during the meeting.
The building will house about 100 people who are moving into housing after experiencing homelessness. Called permanent supportive housing, the model provides wraparound services with 24/7 on-site staffing.
“We’re excited to work with the people of Redmond — local leaders, businesses, law enforcement, and residents — so that this building will add value to the community for years to come,” Plymouth Housing CEO Karen Lee said.
Plymouth Housing previously secured more than $40 million in funding for the project, while it was working with the city of Kenmore. Redmond’s decision allows Plymouth to retain the funding it already secured.
“That’s a huge amount of resources for us to be able to provide something that we have stated repeatedly is a goal for us,” Kritzer added.
Kenmore’s City Council originally hired Plymouth Housing in 2022, after issuing a request for proposal to build an affordable housing project in its downtown. Together Kenmore city staff and Plymouth spent more than 20 months on the project’s design and finding funding.
In recent months, many community members turned against the project, saying they were concerned about safety, the affordable housing provider, the people who would live in the building and the downtown location.
The Kenmore City Council killed the deal last month in a 5-2 vote.
Still, some Kenmore city leaders celebrated Redmond’s decision.
“I want to commend Mayor Birney and the Redmond City Council for their vision and leadership in trying to keep this project alive in Redmond,” Kenmore Mayor Nigel Herbig said in a statement.
Kenmore Deputy Mayor Melanie O’Cain, who told The Seattle Times last month that her community “wasn’t ready for that project,” said she is thankful the project will still have life.
Kenmore’s quelling of the project drew strong rebuke from officials around the region. They praised Redmond last week for being willing to add housing stock to King County, which badly needs it.
Every week, there are more than 1,000 nominations by case workers to get their homeless clients into permanent supportive housing for single adults, according to data provided by King County’s Coordinated Entry System in January, which manages housing requests and is run by the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
According to the 2023 Housing Inventory Count, King County has 7,330 units of permanent supportive housing. These units remain consistently full with all vacant spots seeing immediate referrals, according to the Homelessness Authority.
King County Executive Dow Constantine, who previously described Kenmore’s actions as “an embarrassing failure of leadership,” vowed commitment to work with Redmond.
An end date for the project has yet to be determined, but King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci said it’s a step in the right direction.
“This is the kind of leadership and partnership that all cities and the county will need to demonstrate if we are going to have a chance at housing the people in our communities,” Balducci said.
In an unusual move to weigh in on individual housing projects, Gov. Jay Inslee, celebrated the news.
“Nearly every community in Washington is facing a housing or homelessness crisis,” Inslee said. “The only way forward is for every city to lean in together in providing housing and services.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated where Kenmore is in relation to Redmond.