Everyone needs a safe and affordable place to live, and Commerce is committed to ensuring fair and equitable access to resources that support housing development.
In Washington as in other places, some groups face more challenges than others. This includes:
- Rural community members
- Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC) community members
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and other gender and orientation-diverse (LGBTQ+) community members
- Other historically marginalized groups
Commerce’s Capacity Building, Outreach and Support (CBOS) team is working to expand the capacity of organizations new to housing development, so that they may serve communities that are historically underserved. The program offers predevelopment technical assistance tailored to the needs of each organization and when available, predevelopment funding to organizations that serve underserved communities.
We are particularly focused on serving organizations that arise out of such communities with the intention to service them–sometimes referred to as “By and For Organizations”. If you believe your organization could be designated a By and For Organization, please consider submitting our By and For Organization Assessment form.
Predevelopment technical assistance
Commerce staff and consultants are available to work with groups to plan successful projects focused on developing housing for underserved communities.
Technical assistance activities vary based on the needs of each organization and community, but may include:
- project planning
- financing strategy
- site planning and design
- feasibility analysis
If you are interested in this program, please contact HTFCapacityBuilding@commerce.wa.gov.
Predevelopment grant funding
In 2024, CBOS awarded over $2 million to a total of 12 organizations. These funds will help to further the design and development of the organizations’ projects and prepare them to submit applications for capital financing in future multifamily or homeownership funding rounds. View our news release for more details.
CBOS is not currently offering predevelopment funding. Please check back for details on how to apply for future opportunities. You can also also sign up to receive notifications and updates via emails by subscribing to our newsletter, located at the bottom of this page.
Resources
Commerce is working to develop new affordable housing training resources to equip organizations with the knowledge and expertise that they need to pursue affordable housing development. Stay tuned for more information on these by signed up for our email updates.
In the meantime, here are a few existing external resources for affordable housing training:
- Housing Washington: In partnership with the Washington State Housing Finance Commission; Commerce; and Washington State Low Income Housing Alliance, this conference brings together affordable housing professionals striving to create and promote affordable housing solutions throughout the State. Recording of previous conference sessions are available.
- Grow America offers a six-part affordable housing development webinar series to assist housing developers with additional experience the tools to manage and comply with affordable housing process. The six-part training series includes session on understanding the development process; lending and underwriting; understanding the market; design and sustainability; gap financing; and LIHTC.
- Enterprise Community Partners offers a Housing 101 summary as part of its online toolkit for developing Housing and Education Partnerships. The toolkit itself is a wealth of information on how community groups can develop effective partnerships to advance their goals.
Webinars
MHU annually hosts webinars to provide information on how to apply for the funding sources it manages, and has brought in guests to discuss programs that align with MHU’s goals. Please note that these webinars are not intended to provide training on how to develop a project, but to convey information about the application materials and process.
Please see the links below for a selection of the most recent webinars and their associated materials:
- Apple Health and Homes Webinar, June 20, 2024 – Recording & Presentation Slides
- State Housing Trust Fund Application Webinar, July 11, 2024 – Recording & Presentation Slides
- ALTSA Webinar, July 18, 2024 – Recording & Presentation Slides
- HOME & NHTF Application Webinar – Aug 1, 2024 – Recording & Presentation Slides
- IDD Webinar – Aug 8, 2024 – Recording & Presentation Slides
Office Hours Q&A
In 2024, MHU hosted several online “office hours” Q&A sessions. These were not recorded, but summaries of the questions asked and answers provided can be found in the documents linked below: