This week Washington state’s Low Income Housing Institute celebrated the opening of 57 new apartments for working families at August Wilson Place in downtown Bellevue.
Monthly rent ranges from about $400 for a studio apartment to about $1,000 for a 3-bedroom apartment. The apartments were open to families and individuals making 60 percent or less of the area’s median income. A lottery whittled down the 300 rental applicants to 57.
The 57 apartments include 12 for homeless people, eight for veterans, and three for families with developmental disabilities.
Nearly a dozen sources funded the $17 million project, including the King County Vet and Human Service Levy, the state housing trust fund, federal funds, the Home Depot Foundation, and the non-profit ARCH.
August Wilson Place is located at 204 111th Ave. NE.
I guess those of us that work really hard and pay higher rents are not really “working” families…
Yeah, you’re NOT a low income working family. Get over it. If you don’t like it you are more than welcome to leave. This housing is for those who work in Bellevue, but can’t afford to live normally here. I wish they’d open more housing like this as it brings in a much need variety of people here in the downtown area. Bellevue needs a swift kick of reality. The stuck up attitudes and demeanor of the citizens here is ridiculous. This world doesn’t revolve around you Bellevue so put that in your pipe and smoke it.
You just enabling bad workers and lazy people by doing this. When I was 18 I had no problem living in Lynnwood and driving to Bellevue for work, it motivates me to be good at my business and to work hard and honestly. Now I can afford to live down town and not be afraid of a bubble.
Great point! It’s about time those veterans, and people developmental disabilities get off their lazy bums. They just don’t understand all it takes is some motivation.
Its rude to force diversity on people.
@Jeff, it’s rude to not accept diversity.
This is a positive for Bellevue. The attitudes of some of you guys is the reason why Bellevue gets a bad wrap for being a city full of rich snobs. Bellevue is maturing into a real city whether you like it or not, and real cities will have economic and ethnic diversity.
If you guys prefer to live in enclaves with the 1% then maybe you should consider moving to Mercer Island or Medina.
The city is not full of rich snobs, it has a small feel to it, where people are kind and the landscape is that of intention. Where the trees are trimmed and the buildings are attractive. Bellevue has an affluent charm I appreciate. I do not appreciate having other elements forced on us because others think they know best. Really Matt sounds like you should not live in Bellevue. Maybe you will find the diversity of Seattle more pleasing.
Notice how easy it is to convey a point without name calling? I hope your reply is more thought out than the last.
@Jeff – Bellevue is a city in transition, it is in the midst of transforming from a small, affluent town to a major hub of this region. Unfortunately for you, the version of the city that you long for is the one that is on it’s way out.
Why do you think I should not live in Bellevue? My vision for the city is aligned with the direction it is heading in while it appears those like you who want to hold on to the good ol’ days are the ones who will be left behind.
Unless you are willing to adjust and adapt to the new Bellevue, perhaps it is you who should be the one who lives elsewhere.
And yes, I am able to convey my point without any name calling. I hope you are able to convey a point without the obvious racist and snobbish undertones.
In case you didn’t make the connection, this is the same person who posted as Matt earlier. Was on my brother’s machine earlier.
I am happy with some of the change. The pot shop and low income housing is not pleasing to me. Has nothing to do with racism, not sure where that comes from. I just don’t like the element low income housing brings. Not to say many are not good people, they may be but they also may not. When we pay a lot to live in the community it is not out of bounds to want to maintain that. People who want a Seattle like city can live in Seattle. No need to make Bellevue Seattle.
Rich people may be good people or not be good people as well.
I agree with Mark, I don’t understand why some here are so against the idea of affordable housing. The location of the LIHI property is in a corner of DT Bellevue that already has some other cheaper apartment buildings. The addition of 57 affordable units isn’t going to all of a sudden bring an influx of poor people to Bellevue.
Its not their income that is a concern. I like how people stereotype rich people and talks about “poor” people the way you do. Its not all about money, its about maintaining the culture of the city. That doesn’t mean you have to be rich or poor. Bellevue is a nice family city. There has been wonderful growth, some less wonderful.
So let me get this straight – you are concerned about low income housing coming to the city but it is not their income level you are concerned about. What specifically about these new residents are you concerned about then?
If you are indeed concerned about maintaining the culture of the city. Do you express a similar concern about the waves of wealthy tech transplants coming from California, Texas, and India that are moving here?
^ +1 John. Checkmate, Jeff.
Your thinly veiled attempt to mask your racism and elitism was just exposed. Bellevue is experiencing a massive amount of growth and there have been thousands of new residents the past few years but you are only concerned about the 60 or so who will be moving into this low income housing project. Yet you claim it’s not about their income level. riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Actually your totally off base. I don’t like a certain element this can attract. No one asked my views on all the tech transplants. Its a shame when so much foreign money buys up everything in our fine country. This has nothing to do with the color of people’s skin. Last I checked you can be white and poor. You cling to applying stereotypes because your unable to come up with your own thoughts. Bravo.
Can you please elaborate on what you mean by “certain element”?
In this thread you have now said you aren’t concerned about people’s income level or the color of their skin yet you complain that “Its rude to force diversity on people”. What kind of diversity are you referring to if it’s not racial or socioeconomic? And why is it this project in particular that you feel is forcing diversity on you and your fellow 1 percenters.
Thanks for assuming I am a part of the 1%? Are you saying you think I am successful solely based on my views?
I don’t care for the low income housing in my area because people that can be attracted to that can have friends and associates that would not normally be in the area. Stats show that lower income areas are more affected by crime. That is all. I don’t like things forced on us by people like you who think they need to interfere. Let things happen naturally. I mean there is no way we will agree as we have different viewpoints. I like Bellevue being clean and safe, just so you know not all residents are wealthy. It is a community unlike any other and people flock to that. The hang ups you have towards race and affluence are your own. I don’t care about you or what you have, not sure why you care so much about me.
Oh you are sorely mistaken, I don’t care about you at all. The reason why I’m engaging in this debate is because I’ve been a resident of Bellevue for over 25 years and love what this city is becoming and it’s long term potential. However, I often find myself having to defend it because the typical impression of a Bellevue resident is what you represent – close minded, backwards thinking, snobby, closet racist/elitist.
For the record, one small project will not make downtown Bellevue a “lower income area”. If you did your homework, you would know that LIHI (the non profit that developed this complex) has also built low income projects in South Lake Union which probably has similar overall demographics to downtown Bellevue. Can you share with me any statistics about a spike in crime activity since that building opened? Nope, didn’t think so. You made those assumptions because you are an ignorant bigot.
This will be my final response to this topic since we’re going in circles. I just wanted you to know that you are wrong and I hope in time people like you will leave Bellevue because you give this great city a bad reputation.
Mark your a sad little man with many assumptions. People like you make me sad, so silly what you think you “know”.
I love Obama.
I love Mitt
Mitt is a solid republican and a great American.
So, if I don’t like the direction that my town is taking, I’m invited to leave. That’s called fascism.
I’m glad we can all agree. Everyone who doesn’t like this will be asked to leave Bellevue forever.
Not sure that is what we agreed to.
How dare the city allow the minimum wage earning retail workers to live among their clientele in posh, hoity toity Downtown Bellevue. This is an outrage!
I should give all my money away to people who “deserve” it, that way they will vote for me again… oh the beautiful cycle.
Definitely a sad day when we start letting the poors into Bellevue.
Boris better watch out for the poors. You know that is not a word right?
Poors is a colloquialism that refers to the unwashed masses or the proletariat.
Boris I can not figure out if your joking or not. You often mention poors and I find it so odd
It’s a joke persona meant to mock ridiculous folks like Jeff in this thread (of which Bellevue has many).
That said, I actually do disagree with this type of housing, where we spend huge amounts for a small number of lottery winners. It would be much better to have a citywide housing subsidy/voucher system available to anyone below a specific income that works in Bellevue. That would do much more to encourage those working in Bellevue to live here, encourage a variety of incomes living side-by-side, etc.
Not sure I agree with that Jeff guy either. He does make some decent points. I think there are a lot of stereotypes being thrown around that are not needed.
Just because Jeff is not falling in line with popular opinions and being a bleeding heart does not equal a person that does not care about anything but himself. I often call myself a social elitist. My definition of that is to say that you can be any creed, color, sex, etc.; but I do expect people to follow the same general set of rules. I suspect that is close to what he is saying. It isn’t that complicated and it is not racist at all.
TL – Finally! I find that often when people disagree with me on here they blame it on topics that have no bearing on the conversation. Nice to see someone understands.
TL, I think the reason that people are crying fowl is that Jeff hasn’t given any reason as to why he believes that people in this building will show different behavior other than “they’re poor, and poor people don’t know how to behave”.
Boris, I never said that. You all said things like that and project your inner hate onto me. Its a preference I have, you do not need to agree with me. You are a joke to me, I love to read your posts because I find you to be so ignorant its funny… and sad. I am a happy well educated person who contributes to make Bellevue a wonderful place to live. I think if someone can’t afford to live there it is not needed to provide that. Too many Americans (or non Americans for that matter) expect a handout from this country. Educate yourselves, work hard, make a difference, I am tired of everyone with a hand out expecting everything given to them.
Jeff, I will quote you here:
“Stats show that lower income areas are more affected by crime.”
This is blatantly untrue and not supported by facts. Most of the safest urban areas in the country are the lowest income (El Paso, TX for example).
Even still, within higher income areas (such as Seattle), you have the causality backwards – areas with high crime will show decreasing property values, which can encourage those with lower incomes to move in, because they can afford it. This is not the case in the situation we’re discussing here, because Bellevue is not a high crime area.
All of that said, I still don’t care for this type of development. I just don’t the disdain for poor people that you have. Most of the hardest working people that I know are first generation poor immigrants, but it seems that your words to them would be, “Work harder, lazy ass.”
Boris, you might want to google this, there are many studies that show this. There are always multiple factors. You seem so quick to judge me one way as you believe I am some 1% type guy yet so compassionate towards others of what you believe to be lower income. Don’t blame me for the chip on your shoulder.
I see no studies showing that adding a building with people making 60% of AMI to an area with extremely high AMI shows any increase in crime. Perhaps you have a link?
Remember that “low income” in this case means household incomes of ~$50-60k.
So your saying people making 60k are moving into this housing?
Boris you make me laugh how ridiculous you are. I don’t need to validate myself.
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. The area median income being used for this development is $102k (Bellevue’s median income). 60% of $102k is just about $60k. The lottery for the units is biased towards those who meet the threshold and have the highest ability to pay, meaning that it is very unlikely that anyone lower than $50k will get in.
All of this is spelled out in detail on their website. You did look at that before worrying about the poors coming, no?
This isn’t the low income housing you’re afraid of Jeff.
I did read the website… Says max of 30k… So yes it is what I think it is. Boris one more time you spread lies to make your point.