SPANAWAY, Wash.–One credit union initiative is getting some positive media coverage.
Under the headline, “Seattle’s Newest Housing Hero: Credit Unions,” NextCity.org profiled the Copper Way housing development, which is scheduled to open late this year. It is meant to provide needed homes to hundreds of low- to middle-income families in the region.
“What makes the project most notable, however, is the unique financing model that made it possible,” NextCity.org said in its report. “The development is one of the first projects to come out of the Evergreen Impact Housing Fund (EIHF).”
As CUToday.info reported here in mid-2023, the Evergreen Impact Housing Fund is backed by four Washington credit unions: BECU, Sound CU, Verity CU and WSECU, which contributed a combined $9 million to the fund, the second they have funded together through EIHF.
Goal to Address Affordable Housing
The goal is to address the affordable housing crisis, with the report noting that the Washington State Department of Commerce is projecting the state needs to add 1.1 million homes over the next 20 years, and more than half of them need to be affordable for low-income residents.
Tonita Webb, CEO of Verity Credit Union, told NextCity.org she sees the housing crisis firsthand in her work, as it affects Verity’s membership and employees, and there are encampments home to unhoused community members near the credit union’s headquarters in Seattle’s Northgate neighborhood.
More Than 250 Apartments
The Copper Way project in Spanaway will comprise 256 garden-style apartments, and more than 80% of the units will have two or more bedrooms. All units will be reserved for people earning 60% or less of the area’s median income.
NextCity.org noted Copper Way is the second of EIHF’s projects supported by the consortium of credit unions. Construction began on the first credit union-backed project, Solera in Renton, King County, in 2021. It is slated to open in 2025.
Three other EIHF projects are also underway in Seattle, Kirkland and Renton — altogether, the in-progress projects will provide more than 800 housing units, NextCity.org reported.
‘A Commitment to People’
Seattle Foundation Chief Impact officer Kris Hermanns told the publication that partnering with credit unions to bring these projects to life was an obvious choice. “Credit unions not only have a commitment to place, but they have a commitment to people, their members and the community in which they are rooted,” Hermanns said.
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