This February and all year, we honor Black history as we build equitable housing for future generations of Black homeowners.
In 2023, Habitat SKKC began a joint venture and partnership with African Community Housing & Development (ACHD), a non-profit launched in 2019 that empowers Seattle’s African Diaspora community by building culturally rooted health and housing stability in the region. In the six years since, their work providing housing and social services have expanded into many exciting projects including launching the Delridge Farmers’ Market, a market model that “prioritizes BIPOC farmers, chefs, and artisans who reflect and honor the cultural diversity of Southwest Seattle” and partnering with the WA Department of Commerce’s Small Business Resiliency Network to provide technical assistance and training to small businesses in King County.
The Office of Housing’s Rainier Valley Affordable Homeownership Initiative, created in 2023, invested $7.5 million in funding to new residential buildings in the area. Our collaboration with ACHD was awarded three out of the four projects located in the Rainier Valley on surplus land donated by Sound Transit, which will result in 65 new units over the next four to five years. The construction projects on 4865 MLK Jr. Way S., 6740 MLK Jr. Way S., and 3601 MLK Jr. Way S. are just the beginning.
Habitat SKKC’s Chief Impact Officer John Gillilan noted that our partnership with ACHD will, “provide access and prosperity for the African diaspora” in this region.
An exciting recent development in our partnership with ACHD is the selection of Alpha Sharp Development Partners Inc. (Alpha Sharp) as the contractor for 4865 MLK Jr. Way S. It’s a Black-owned, vertically integrated, for-profit multifamily real estate development firm in the Puget Sound region. Co-founders Leslie Byrd and Iyibo Jack met as students at the University of Washington, and after many years working for companies including Boeing and Hitachi Consulting, they formed Alpha Sharp in 2019. Construction Manager Tony Talton, friend and fellow UW alum, was the first staff member to join their team, and he focuses on building both their capacity and the infrastructure needed to support their rapid expansion.
Habitat SKKC’s Senior Project Manager Daniel McCune said one of the main reasons we selected Alpha Sharp for the 4865 MLK project was the team’s energy. “They balance technical knowledge with an ability to speak plainly for everyone to understand,” he said.
Alpha Sharp’s team currently manages design, development, and construction projects, including three active construction multifamily projects and five design multifamily projects. While they began their work in Tacoma, they are actively expanding their projects in Seattle. In addition to their goal of building more affordable housing units, Alpha Sharp works with many small and diverse businesses including subcontractors, vendors, and designers and empowers them through mentorship and collaboration. This model cultivates talent from diverse backgrounds and ensures future generations of diverse business leaders in the design and construction industry.
Our work with ACHD will help to decrease displacement and close the homeownership gap among Black families in the region. Much like Alpha Sharp’s work to cultivate the next generation of leaders in construction and development, our collaborative partnership also includes knowledge sharing between Habitat SKKH and the ACHD team so they can add development of affordable housing units to their core services. This will serve the community beyond our shared project in Rainier Valley. These partnerships highlight the importance of mentorship and resource sharing in ensuring that the next generation of developers and contractors are as diverse as the neighborhoods where they build.