Strength of Place Village (SOPV), the affordable housing project under construction in White Center began taking applications for residents recently and conducted tours on July 13. The project contains 30 aparment units near downtown White Center. The project broke ground on Sept. 15 last year. It should be completed almost one year to the day in mid September, with a planned opening on Oct. 19.

The project targets families at 30% (15 units), 40% (8 units) and 60% (7 units) of area median income. Six of these units have been set-aside as permanent housing for families transitioning from homelessness and will receive case management and support from Family Services of King County.

The majority of the apartments are two- and three-bedrooms in order to serve the larger, multi-generational families of the White Center community.

The project feature one, two and three bedroom flat style and townhome apartments ranging from 600 to 1000 square feet, with open floor plans, high ceilings, and durable surfaces.

There is a large community room and on-site laundry surfaces. A large parking lot is on site for residents.

Located at the corner of 100th s.w. and 13th s.w. the project is convenient to public transportation and to the nearby businesses that cater to an ethnically diverse population.

SOPI Village is part of the Strength of Place Initiative and is a partnership among Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA), White Center Community Development Association (WCCDA) and Capitol Hill Housing (CHH). Working together, these three organizations have joined forces to promote equitable development in White Center through the creation of beautiful, family-oriented affordable housing.

Kate Gill de la Garza of Capitol Hill Housing emphasized that the project brings affordable, safe and above all well managed housing to the area.

Resident site Manager Jasmine Brown said, "We're doing tours so that the community can come through and see what affordable housing can look like. We had an intake last week at the YWCA where we got a fair amount of applications now we want to give people who applied and those interested a chance to see what we've been doing on the construction site."

Hawa Egal of Open Arms perinatal services led some of her clients through and said, "I like the area and the transitional housing that they've got, not far from my office, so I'm really excited about that."

The temporary office location for SOPV until Aug. 8 is at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center 4408 Delridge Way s.w. Suite 109. You can reach them by phone at 206-972-5280. Hours 10:00 am to 12 noon on Sunday or by appointment only.
10:00 am to 4:00 pm Monday through Wednesday.

On Thursdays and Fridays visit them at the WCCDA offices at 1615 s.w. Cambridge Street. Phone 206-972-5280, hours 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.