King County, through its Department of Community and Health Services (DCHS) and Facilities Management Division (FMD), announced Homestead Community Land Trust (CLT) as the recipient of the Brooks Village Direct Negotiation Request for Proposals (RFP). Launched last August, the RFP invited community-based organizations and housing developers with deep ties to the Skyway community to submit proposals aimed at transforming the buildable area of Brooks Village, a 14.3-acre parcel of undeveloped land owned by King County, into affordable housing. As the recipient of the RFP, Homestead CLT, in partnership with the Skyway Coalition, will directly negotiate with King County to assess the viability of the Brooks Village site for affordable housing.
“The award of an exclusive negotiating agreement for Brooks Village to Homestead Community Land Trust is a fulfillment of Skyway’s decades of community-led activism to create community-stewarded affordable housing and green spaces in their community,” said Kathleen Hosfeld, CEO, Homestead Community Land Trust. “We are grateful to King County for this opportunity, as well as to the hundreds of community members whose dreams, conversations and advocacy inspired the process that brought us to this point.”
“Displacement and gentrification continue to threaten many of our historic Seattle-area communities. Our most vulnerable neighborhoods tend to be unincorporated as they lack local representation, resources and a spectrum of affordable housing options,” said Rebecca Zapata, Executive Director, Skyway Coalition. “We want to thank King County for being responsive through this RFP to the vision and will of the community for establishing and safeguarding affordable housing opportunities, and community stewarded greenspaces.”
Located in the Skyway-West Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Brooks Village is largely comprised of wetlands and environmentally critical areas but based on preliminary studies, contains approximately three acres of buildable land. To preserve the unique features of Brooks Village, a three-way partnership between Homestead, the Skyway Coalition, and the Community Land Conservancy, a people of color-led land conservancy, will focus on stewardship and conservation of the wetlands as part of a community-driven effort to cultivate green space for the Skyway community. If negotiations are successful, a purchase and sale agreement to transfer ownership of the site from King County to Homestead CLT, for the purpose of developing affordable housing and protecting the environmentally sensitive areas, will be submitted to King County Council for approval. If approved, the development will provide up to 57 new homeownership units on the developable land at Brooks Village.
Since 2021, King County hosted multiple community meetings with Skyway residents to understand the community’s desired outcomes for Brooks Village. Community residents shared the following priorities for the development of the Brooks Village site:
- permanently affordable homeownership units on the developable land,
- housing for households with incomes between 50 to 80 percent of Area Median Income (AMI),
- large family and multi-generation household sized units,
- townhomes or a mix of townhomes and stacked flat-style construction,
- adequate parking options,
- prioritization of Skyway residents (past and present) for new housing as a way to address displacement, and
- conservation of the wetlands and environmentally critical areas, with recreation areas and trails.
Skyway community members also provided input on the Brooks Village Direct Negotiation RFP. They helped shape the RFP criteria and priorities and gave feedback that guided the composition of the review panel. Four Skyway community members participated in the RFP review panel, including local business owners, youth, and homeowners.
“This RFP and award are game changers – positive first steps to establishing much-needed processes that support building a thriving community: where current residents can raise their families, own their own homes, and enjoy the beauty of the natural environment and urban food production,” said Jeannie Williams, Skyway Coalition’s Land, Housing and Development Manager. “We look forward to working with Homestead and the Community Land Conservancy to develop a successful plan to achieve the community’s vision at the property.”
“King County’s negotiation with Homestead Community Land Trust is an inspiring example of the innovation and vision that comes out of community-led and -driven development. It is also a testament to Homestead’s track record of creating vibrant communities that protect people and families from displacement and repair the harms of housing discrimination. We are excited about the Brooks Village opportunity and look forward to seeing how this land assessment phase of the process unfolds,” said Simon Foster, Director of King County’s Housing, Homelessness, and Community Development division. “It is more important than ever that we invest in community-driven solutions to affordable housing that prioritize those who are most impacted by housing inequities. In doing so, we are better equipped to advance and promote affordable housing solutions that promote racial equity and provide deeply affordable housing to those who need it most.”
For more information about the RFP process, please contact Joseph Maverick III at jmaveric@kingcounty.gov.