Bold developers, nonprofits, and local governments are joining together to build new, innovative housing to meet growing demand in central Puget Sound and provide opportunities for first-time homebuyers.

Developers are revisiting some traditional ideas about housing -- small cottages, homes with front porches, and neighborhoods linked by sidewalks close to shopping and transit hubs.

Ideas such as urban cohousing and programs that allow first-time homebuyers to contribute "sweat equity" toward a home purchase are also giving Puget Sound residents new choices in where and how they live.

In September, members of the Regional Council's Growth Management Policy Board toured the central portion of the region to see some of these housing sites up close and spark ideas that could help jurisdictions around central Puget Sound increase housing supply and affordability. Presentations by housing experts along the tour provided key insights and information on regional housing developments and programs.

Below are highlights from the tour. For more information, contact Norman Abbott at (206) 464-7134, nabbott@psrc.org.

Ravenna Cottages

This market-rate cottage-housing project was completed by Threshold Housing as part of Seattle's Demonstration Ordinance for Innovative Housing Design, which encourages developers to build new, modestly sized housing within existing single-family neighborhoods.

The Ravenna project used a 10,500 square foot lot in the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle to build six cottages and three carriage units clustered around a landscaped courtyard and fountain. Garages -- one parking space per unit -- are located in the rear, accessible by an alley. Prices range from $258,000 to $308,000. Traditional single-family homes in the same neighborhood currently sell for around $350,000.

The cottages and carriage houses are small (830 to 850 square feet), but feature high-quality finish work and traditional characteristics such as front porches, gables, dormers, lap siding and trellises, and blend in with the early-century houses in the neighborhood.

Seattle Cohousing

Seattle Cohousing is a new urban cohousing development just over a mile from downtown that is scheduled to be completed this fall. It will include approximately 27 townhomes and flats clustered around a common courtyard and a common hall, all on 1.25 acres.

Cohousing is a type of collaborative housing in which residents have private houses, townhouses or flats with their own kitchens, but also share extensive common areas such as a large dining room, kitchen, lounges, meeting rooms, and a workshop. Residents also share lawn mowers, gardening tools, and washing machines.

Cohousing communities are managed by residents, who do much of the work to maintain the property, prepare common meals shared by other residents, and meet regularly to develop policies for the community.

Judkins Park

Judkins Park is a neighborhood of 165 homes near I-90 in Seattle's Central Area developed in the late 1990s by the nonprofit developer Homesight. Homesight's mission is to revitalize distressed neighborhoods without displacing current residents. Homesight offers home ownership opportunities to people earning between 50 to 80 percent of median income (around $36,000 to $52,500 for a family of four in King County).

Homesight uses a variety of standard plans that provide variety and compatibility with site conditions. The nonprofit has saved on development costs and time by working with the city of Seattle to implement their "standard plan permit process."

NewHolly Park

Seattle Housing Authority is redeveloping an aging 1940s-era public housing project in south Seattle. The housing authority removed 871 units of public housing and is replacing them with a mix of low, moderate, and market-rate housing. All 871 units of public housing have been replaced, either within New Holly or at other locations.

When complete, New Holly will contain 1,433 units. The new neighborhood has many traditional features: sidewalks, houses with front porches, and garages located behind the houses on alleys. New Holly also has a neighborhood campus with a learning center, a Seattle Public Library branch, classrooms for South Seattle Community college classes, and a Head Start program. The total project cost is about $260 million, and combines a diverse group of funding sources Ð HUD, state of Washington, city of Seattle, Fannie Mae, Bank of America, Key Bank, Washington Mutual, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle, and others.

Renton's Metropolitan Place

Metropolitan Place is a new 90-unit apartment complex built on top of a King County Metro park-and-ride garage, located just across the street from the newly renovated Renton Transit Center in downtown Renton.

King County has contracted with the Metropolitan Place developer, Dally Homes, to maintain and operate the parking garage. Dally Homes will provide all Metropolitan Place residents with Metro passes for the next 10 years, and will rent half of the units at rates affordable to people making 80 percent of the King County median wage.

The city of Renton has built substantial street and sidewalk improvements downtown, including a new urban park, to attract housing and retail downtown. Other private developments near Metropolitan Place include the Renaissance, a 110-unit luxury apartment complex, and the 55-unit Burnett Station.

Snoqualmie Ridge

Snoqualmie Ridge is a vast new master planned community within the city of Snoqualmie with fantastic views of Mount Si and surrounding environs. The development includes million-dollar homes surrounding a golf course, as well as market-rate and affordable housing. The affordable housing is being built by three developers -- Quadrant, Northwest Housing Development and Habitat for Humanity.

Quadrant Homes built two cottage-style developments aimed at buyers who earn 80 to 100 percent of the median income. The "R" Cottages, built in 1999, range in size from 950 to 1450 square feet. Buyers, who include singles, single moms, grandparents and young families, may not earn more than 80 percent of the median income (around $50,000 for a family of four, $35,000 for singles). The "I/J" cottages, built in 1998, are larger, and are aimed at homebuyers who earn 100 percent of King County median income.

Northwest Housing Development, a nonprofit housing developer, is building affordable homes at Snoqualmie Ridge using a self-determination, "sweat equity" model. Under the supervision of an experienced contractor, households are required to put in 35 hours a week to help build the house, and do 65 percent of the construction themselves. The sweat equity is credited toward purchase of the home. Average mortgages are between $125,000 and $135,000.

Habitat for Humanity recently built 20 homes at Snoqualmie Ridge, and has plans to build another 20 on the site. The families qualifying for the homes must put in 500 hours of sweat equity and have incomes at 50 percent or below median income. Homes are sold at cost on long-term, zero-interest mortgages. Weyerhaeuser Real Estate donated more than 10 acres of land and paid for roads and utility installation at all 20 homes. Wells Fargo provided financing, and some corporate sponsors made other donations of money and building materials. The Eastside Habitat for Humanity aims to build more than 100 homes over the next five years on the Eastside.

All of the affordable developments have a look similar to market-rate housing at Snoqualmie Ridge, a new community with sidewalks and alleys and housing styles that are reminiscent of neighborhoods like Wallingford in Seattle and Proctor in Tacoma built in the early part of the 20th century.

Downtown Seattle Booms

A housing boom in downtown Seattle during the last decade shows that many people are attracted to living in a lively urban environment close to arts, culture, shopping and downtown jobs. From 1990 to 2000, Seattle's downtown population jumped by 67 percent, while the rest of the city grew by 9 percent. In 2000, Seattle's population reached an all-time high of 563,374. Seattle is carrying out a number of programs aimed at increasing housing affordability in the city:

Housing bonus: Allows new developments additional density when developers provide new affordable housing or contribute to the production of new affordable housing.

Transfer of development rights (TDR) program: Focuses on the preservation of existing low-income housing. Permits the transfer of unused development rights from low-income housing sites to downtown office and hotel developments.

Tax exemption for multifamily housing: Stimulates new multifamily housing construction or the rehabilitation of vacant or underutilized buildings for multifamily housing in the city's designated urban villages.

Location efficient mortgage: Homebuyers who purchase a property in Seattle and work within the Seattle city limits may qualify for a higher loan amount than with a traditional mortgage. The idea is that people who live in urban neighborhoods close to transit and services don't need to necessarily own a second car and can afford a higher mortgage payment.

Hometown home loan: Gives special interest rate and other discounts to employees of the city of Seattle, University of Washington, and other major Seattle institutions.

Special Thanks to Local Housing Experts

Housing experts provided key information on regional housing issues to members of the Growth Management Policy Board along the tour. Special thanks to:

• City of Seattle - Cynthia Parker, Director, Seattle Housing Office; Dahe Good, Policy and Program Manager, Seattle Housing Office
• Ravenna Cottages - John Kucher, Threshold Housing
• Seattle Cohousing - Kathy Sellars, Seattle Cohousing member
• Judkins Park Neighborhood - Nora Liu, Senior Project Manager, Homesight
• NewHolly - Terry Hirata, Site Manager, Seattle Housing Authority; Preston Prince, Program Manager, Seattle Housing Authority
• Renton's Metropolitan Place - Sue Carlson, Administrator of Economic Development, Neighborhoods and Strategic Planning, Renton; Alex Pietsch, Economic Development Director, Renton; Don Dally, Dally Homes
• Snoqualmie Ridge - Steve Dennis, President of Quadrant Homes; Barry Brodriac, Northwest Housing Development; Jean Ann French, Habitat for Humanity

The tour also included Vincent Tom, from the King County Office of Community Development, who discussed King County housing programs, and Mike Luis from the Housing Partnership.

Historical Income Growth in Central Puget Sound Per capita income in the Puget Sound region reached $35,864 in 1999 -- more than double the region's 1970 average income in constant 1999 dollars. Incomes of people in the central Puget Sound region have been consistently higher than the national average, with an average spread of more than 12 percent recorded between 1970 and 1990. The difference lowered to single-digits only during the region's "bust" period in the early 1970s. During the 1990s the gap between the national average and the Puget Sound region continued to widen. The region's income averaged 18 percent higher than the U.S. during the 1990s, with a high of 26 percent recorded in 1999. This increase may be at least partially due to the impacts of stock option income. More recent income data from 2000 and 2001 are not available yet, but will likely reflect negative effects from the bursting of the "tech bubble" and coming layoffs by Boeing and others. King County's high rate of income growth compared to the other counties reflects in part the fact that King County has had strong job growth, a larger proportion of higher-paying jobs and demographic characteristics such as smaller average household sizes. In the future, if a higher share of the region's job growth and the trend of smaller, multiple-worker households occurs outside of King County, the gaps in per capita income among the region's counties could decrease. Average Annual Percent Changes in Per Capita Income by County   1970-1990 1990-1999 King 2.9 4.1 Kitsap 2.2 0.4 Pierce 2.0 1.8 Snohomish 2.6 2.0 Region 2.6 3.1 Sources: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis Personal Income -- Definitions and Data Source Personal income statistics are compiled by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) using data from all income sources, and are published periodically in the BEA's publication Summary of Current Business. For more information, contact their customer service department at (202) 606-9900, or refer to the BEA's Web site at http://www.bea.doc.gov/. Note that personal income differs from money income reported by the U.S. Census because personal income includes employee fringe benefits, in-kind assistance payments, and an inventory adjustment to proprietor's income. Personal income also excludes employee contributions to social security. Regional and National Per Capita Income Trends (constant 1999 dollars) Per Capita Income by County, 1970-1999 (constant 1999 dollars) More information on income trends is available in the October issue of Puget Sound Trends, Per Capita and Total Personal Income, 1970-1999.. For questions about the data presented above, contact Kristen Koch at (206) 587-5667, e-mail kkoch@psrc.org.