Groundbreaking held for Ronald Commons housing project

Compass Housing Alliance, Hopelink, and Ronald United Methodist Church broke ground October 12 on Ronald Commons, a new affordable housing project with an on-site 12,000-square-foot Integrated Service Center.

Ronald Commons will offer permanent, affordable housing to 60 formerly homeless and low-income households, including families and veterans. All sixty units are reserved for households earning 30 percent or 50 percent less than the Area Median Income, with rents well below area average. The property helps expand the availability of affordable housing in Shoreline where it is desperately needed.

“Compass Housing Alliance is very excited to be developing our first permanent housing facility in Shoreline to meet the need for affordable housing. Ronald Commons will be within a community where residents can access multiple supports on their path to stability as well as the schools, arts, and other amenities that make Shoreline such a wonderful place to live,” said Janet Pope, Compass Housing Alliance Executive Director.

View from the church parking lot

More than housing, Ronald Commons combines the resources, talent and vision of three organizations with deep roots in the community. Hopelink will own and operate a new Integrated Service Center on site with a grocery-style food bank and other critical services for the broader community.

“This groundbreaking celebrates the culmination of a dynamic long-term partnership and represents our shared vision to bring stability and progress to the lives of thousands more families in need in the greater Shoreline community,” Lauren Thomas, Executive Director of Hopelink, said. “Although Hopelink has long served this area, we are thrilled with creating our first permanent home together in Shoreline, as Ronald Commons will enable us to help more low-income families and individuals acquire the tools and skills they need in order to exit poverty for good.”

Ronald United Methodist Church has a long history of actively serving the local community, guided by a belief in “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.” As part of the Ronald Commons project, Ronald United Methodist has nearly completed a remodel of the church building that expands space for community partners and furthers its mission of community outreach.

“The Ronald Commons project began nearly 5 years ago as a vision for our faith community. We wanted very much to be in mission to our neighborhood and our community, as we are in mission in various ways all over the world. In creating Ronald Commons, we have crafted a unique partnership that bridges the sacred and the secular, and supports the mission and vision of Ronald, which is to be a diverse, faithful, active community reaching out in service, hospitality, and hope,” said Pastor Paula Mccutcheon, Pastor of Ronald United Methodist Church.

Compass Housing Alliance, Hopelink, and Ronald United Methodist Church will celebrated the groundbreaking with a ceremony and open house on Monday, October 12 at Ronald Commons, 17839 Aurora Ave N, Shoreline.

For Ronald Commons’ affordable housing construction, Compass Housing Alliance’s primary team includes development consultant Beacon Development Group, SMR Architects, and general contractor Walsh Construction.

Hopelink, which helped design their new space, will move
all their Shoreline activities to Ronald Commons

To finance Ronald Commons, Compass Housing Alliance has received a combination of funds and support from the City of Shoreline, King County Housing Finance Program, King County Veterans and Human Services Levy, WA State Housing Trust Fund, WA State Housing Finance Commission, Impact Capital, National Equity Fund, Bank of America, Home Depot Foundation, LISC/Met Life, McEachern Charitable Trust, WA State Department of Commerce, and the Sambataro Family Foundation. Compass Housing Alliance also invested $500,000 from their own previously held funds.

The first level includes the street view apartments and the rest is
a parking garage. This third level and the fourth level house most
of the apartment units.

Compass Housing Alliance

Established in 1920, Compass Housing Alliance provides shelter, emergency support, self-sufficiency resources and affordable housing for men, women and families who are experiencing homelessness or living on very limited incomes in Seattle and King County. Recent affordable housing developments include Compass on Dexter in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, Dekko Place in downtown Seattle, and Nyer Urness House in Ballard.

Hopelink

Since 1971, Hopelink has served homeless and low-income families, children, seniors and people with disabilities in north and east King County. With service centers in Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland, Shoreline, and Sno-Valley (Carnation), we are the largest nonprofit organization in the area. Hopelink programs and services focus on five key areas: food, financial assistance, housing and family development, adult education and employment and transportation/mobility. Programs are aimed at helping people achieve stability, and helping them gain the tools and skills they need to exit poverty for good.

Ronald United Methodist Church

Ronald United Methodist Church was founded more than 100 years ago, and moved to its present location in 1924 because the members wanted to be closer to the center of the community. The members of that time purchased the land by pledging an additional $100 toward the $1,600 purchase price. They raised this additional money through donations ranging from 10 cents to $5, and sometimes a bit more. Their dedication to the future, and their faith in the stewardship of resources, provided a place for the Ronald Commons project to be built 91 years later. The 2015 faith community of RUMC continues to build on the promise established all those years ago to be in service to our neighbors and our community and to provide, through this unique partnership with Compass and Hopelink, an expanded presence and wider range of resources to the community.