In August 2023, Habitat SKKC began a joint venture and partnership with African Community Housing & Development (ACHD), a non-profit that empowers Seattle’s African Diaspora community by building culturally rooted health and housing stability in the region.
On June 9, ACHD and Habitat SKKC celebrated the historic partnership to center Black homeownership and prosperity across multiple projects throughout South King County with a groundbreaking on the site of one of the future buildings. The three projects along Martin Luther King Jr. Way South will include 65 new permanently affordable homes throughout Seattle’s Rainier Valley. Staff from both organizations, along with elected officials and other mission-aligned non-profits, came together to share in the momentous occasion.
The dynamic lineup of speakers began with Hamdi Abdulle, President & CEO of ACHD. Acknowledging the significance of the collaboration between her organization and Habitat SKKC, Abdulle noted that this project is more than a development, it’s a commitment to the community that will directly feel its impact. Rainier Valley is one of the most diverse neighborhoods, and it’s also one with residents that are at the highest risk of displacement due to the rising costs caused by the neighborhood’s transit expansion.
ACHD and Habitat SKKC are not only building shelter, Abdulle said, but laying the foundation for generational wealth and prosperity for Black and immigrant families. “This shows what happens when organizations come together to support justice and community,” Abdulle added.
The next speaker, Bilan Aden, is not only the Vice President of ACHD, she is also Abdulle’s daughter. She started by thanking all the organizations involved in this project—what she called “The Justice League of Affordable Housing”—for their combined efforts. These organizations are giving groups of people who have been historically left out of homeownership “pathways of opportunity.”
ACHD and Habitat SKKC are working to make affordable housing easier to build and find, and affordable homeownership easier to obtain. The history of housing in King County is marked by exclusion, redlining, and displacement. The day of the groundbreaking marked a turning point, and Aden said, “This project isn’t just a win, it’s a statement.”
Habitat SKKC CEO Brett D’Antonio took the stage next and added some of the historical context to the day’s speeches, noting that it was Marty Kooistra, architect and member of the Black Home Initiative (BHI), who first connected D’Antonio and Abdulle on the non-profit “blind date” that led to this important partnership. “As members of the Black Home Initiative, we are committed to bold partnerships like this that will increase Black homeownership in the Rainier Valley and throughout King County,” he added.
Following D’Antonio, special guest speakers united in their praise of the project and acknowledgement of the meaningful work ahead. King County Executive Shannon Braddock called the first-of-its-kind collaboration a response to systemic exclusionary practices in Seattle’s housing history. Braddock wants to build “places and spaces for all people,” which can happen when organizations like ours come together. She pointed out that “real community engagement can deliver results.”
Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, who also spoke at our Olympic Ridge dedication, is a big proponent of affordable housing and homeownership. She began her speech by recounting her early working relationship with ACHD: “It taught me how to authentically serve immigrant communities.”
Rinck also celebrated the coalition of non-profits and government agencies, like the Seattle Office of Housing, that are partnering for “innovative funding solutions” for affordable housing.
Erika Malone, Strategic Advisor for Homeownership at the Seattle Office of Housing, acknowledged in her speech the households who have deep roots in the Rainier Valley, and how these homes will help them to stay here. She also discussed the importance of bringing back those who have already been displaced and how these homes will mean they can return to this neighborhood as homeowners.
“We’re doing more than construction, we’re building hope,” Malone said.
As was a thread throughout all the day’s speeches, Patience Malaba, Executive Director of the Housing Development Consortium, recognized the power of coalitions in her speech: “No single organization can solve the region’s housing crisis on their own.”
With a community-based partnership deeply rooted in collaboration, capacity-building, and co-learning, ACHD and Habitat SKKC will combine their strengths to deliver high-quality and permanently affordable homes that meet the critical needs of BIPOC and low/moderate income families. This includes family-sized units designed for larger, intergenerational families, multi-family buildings with a higher number of homes for seniors and growing families, and community-centric retail that features essential services from the small businesses that are the foundation of the Rainier Valley. These projects will also generate opportunities for women- and minority-owned businesses, contractors, and suppliers, including Alpha Sharp, a Black-owned real estate development firm that will serve as the general contractor for the three-townhome project at 4865 MLK Jr. Way S.
The collaborative partnership also includes knowledge sharing between Habitat SKKC and the ACHD team so that the latter can add development of affordable housing units to their core services. This means an impact on the region beyond our shared project. As Patience Malaba emphasized in her speech at the groundbreaking, “Today is not the finish line, it’s the start.”