Common Ground Summer Newsletter

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Seattle Office Moves into New Digs
After a year of planning, Common Ground finally said good-bye to its old office.  Common Ground quickly outgrew its home of 5 years and moved down the block to more spacious accomodations in June. Their new location is still in Seattle's historic Pioneer Square neighborhood, 419 Occidental S # 201. With no individual offices, the office features an open floor plan that allows natural light throughout.  The exposed brick and big bright windows from the 1908 FX McRory Building offer a pleasant workplace for our employees and clients.  Stay turned for an invitation to our Sept 3rd Open House to check out our new space and catch up on the latest news from Common Ground. 
Save the Date:
Open House 9.03.08 

Sand Point - Transfer of Lease Completed, Solid Ground Begins Development
Solid Ground is working with its partners and Common Ground to help bring housing for homeless families and individuals to the Sand Point Magnuson area of Seattle. The project has two two major phases, one of which was recently completed. Phase One involved a lengthy process of transferring the lease for housing parcels from the original lessee to Solid Ground.  After much legal work and an extensive environmental review, the transfer was completed in April. Shirley Bekins led the charge for Common Ground.  Solid Ground has assumed all responsibilities for the existing housing and for development of new housing on the vacant parcels. 

Phase Two is the development of new housing.  106 units of housing will be developed in two stages. The first includes 52 units of family housing and a one community building. The second stage includes 20 more units of family housing and 34 units of housing for individuals.  Funding for Stage One is underway with commitments/pledges from:  City of Seattle; Children’s Hospital; Microsoft Corporation; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; plus pledges from Solid Ground’s board and Capital Campaign Task Force.  Stage One construction is set to begin in the Fall of 2009.  Architectural Services are being provided by Tonkin Hoyne. Mary Burki is the Common Ground Developer.

Spokane Urban Ministries Walnut Corners Construction Begins August 
Spokane is experiencing a spike in demand for affordable housing. Market changes have inflated housing costs and displacing low-income residents. In response to the demand and other factors, four churches (Salem Lutheran, Emmanuel Lutheran, St. Paul’s and Grace Lutheran) and one non-profit affordable housing provider(Salem Arms) created a new entity, Spokane Urban Ministries, to sponsor an affordable housing project.  The churches received capacity building assistance from Common Ground and moved forward with development of Walnut Corners, which will provide 47 units for low-income individuals and families; 18 of the units will be dedicated to homeless persons living with chronic mental illness. Walnut Corners is now fully funded and construction is ready to begin August 2008 for completion July 2009. Laura Garrison is the Common Ground Developer.

CG, Building Changes, & Corporation for Supportive Housing Team Up for Supportive Housing Institute
Common Ground and Building Changes have partnered to present the Supportive Housing Institute, a capacity building initiative sponsored by the Washington State Department of Community, Trade  and Economic Development, the Washington Families Fund, and the Mental Health Division within the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.  Building capacity through project development is the theme of the Institute, where the goal is to help local communites work together in achieving their shared goal of ending homelessness.
This 10 session, 9 month long intensive training program is attended by 8 teams (40+ principals) selected by sponsoring agencies. After completion of the training, participants should have a solid foundation to enhance the ability of their local housing organzations in buildiing, operating, servin and owning supportive housing for homeless populations. Representatives from the following counties are participating:  Benton-Franklin, Clallum, Lewis, Okanogan, Pacific, Skagit, Spokane, and Walla Walla.

CG Presents Community Land Trust Institute to 20 Statewide CLT's
Common Ground was selected by the NW Community Land Trust Coalition to design and deliver the Community Land Trust Institute.  Senior Developer Julie Bruner has already completed the initial installment, working with 20 Community Land Trusts throughout the state to provide both general "nuts and bolts" trainings and targeted sessions to explore each CLT's unique needs.  Participants range from experienced groups like the Kulshan CLT and Homestead CLT to those new to CLT's like the Skagit County Community Action Association who are in the early phase of starting their own Community Land Trust. This is the ONLY CLT training of its kind throughout the US.

CG Welcomes Three New Employees to Seattle Office
Angie Liou, Jessica Cheng, and Elizabeth Walker are all new faces to CG! Angie Liou joins CG as a Housing Developer and is already at work on 3 projects. She hails from Philadelphia and brings with her a strong background in affordable housing. Angie has a Master in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania.  Jessica Cheng is our new Admistrative Assistant for Housing Development.  Jessica comes to us from Intercommunity Mercy Housing where she was Project Assistant and Office Manager.  Liz Walker has taken over the Executive Assistant role at CG. Liz  was most recently a Marketing/Communications Supervisor for a national wireless retailer.  Like Jessica, she has a degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington.

Mission Fund Projects Named, Your Support Appreciated
Common Ground has a strong history of working with clients to develop small projects that provide critically needed housing in rural areas and/or for specific underserved populations. While these projects are now a small proportion of our current portfolio, Common Ground’s Board of Directors remains committed to supporting them.  Very few other development consultants work on projects under 12 units.  

Common Ground’s Mission Fund allows us to provide assistance to non-profit clients whose projects are too small to cover the costs of a development consultant.   Common Ground targets some revenues from our large projects to help subsidize our costs for the small “mission projects”.  That is matched, 1:1,  with private gifts to the Mission Fund. 
Since 2006, Common Ground has supported four mission projects: Family Resource Center, Housing at the Crossroads/Kensington, Cocoon House, and San Juan Community Land Trust.  For 2008, we will have at least one mission project sponsored by Banchero Community Services of King County, which will provide 6 permanent housing units for 12 adults with developmental disabilities.