Everett, Wash.
Published: Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Caught up in land deal, 200 to lose homes

Dozens of families are caught off guard by the county's sale of their housing to a Boeing supplier.

By David Chircop, Herald Writer

 EVERETT -- More than 200 people who live in former military duplexes south of Paine Field are being evicted from their homes at the end of June to make way for a new business that promises to bring hundreds of jobs.

Residents of Fairmount Park Housing received 90-day eviction notices, hand-delivered last week by Housing Authority of Snohomish County employees.

The sprawling government housing complex in south Everett is being redeveloped for Korry Electronics, a Boeing contractor that is moving from Seattle to south of Everett.

Some residents complain that they were blindsided by their eviction orders. They say they have scant savings and will have trouble setting aside enough money to relocate in a tight housing market.

"It's traumatic because all the kids are going to have to move to different cities," said Christine Grimaldi, a 30-year-old mother of three who has rented a three-bedroom unit at Fairmount Park Housing for about a year. "Something like this to happen is hard for everybody."

Bob Davis, executive director of the county Housing Authority, who personally delivered notices Wednesday night, said tenants were forewarned when they signed new leases, or were sent letters, that housing there was only temporary. In anticipation of a land-use change, the housing authority began entering into only month-to-month leases with tenants starting in January 2007.

A total of 215 people living in 69 of the complex's 74 units will have to move. The other five units are vacant.

Many are likely among the 54,000 households in Snohomish County in need of affordable housing, said June Robinson, executive director of the Housing Consortium of Everett and Snohomish County, a nonprofit advocacy group.

That is to say, people who spend more than 30 percent of their household income on housing.

"The rental market is tight right now," Robinson said. "There aren't a lot of vacancies, but 90 days really should be adequate to find affordable, safe, decent housing."

Grimaldi, who pays about $1,000 a month, including utilities, said the relatively low rent allows her to stay home to care for her developmentally disabled daughter while her husband works.

While the Grimaldis do not receive public assistance, many residents do.

With her subsidized-housing voucher, Carrie Bonogofski pays $340 for her three-bedroom duplex at Fairmount Park.

Since news of the closure, the single mother of three, who said she suffers from severe fibromyalgia, said she has scoured classified advertisements to no avail. She does not own a car, which makes her search more difficult, she said. Regulations associated with the housing choice voucher program also require extra inspections and surveys to make sure rent is consistent with the market.

"It's not enough time for people, not this group," Bonogofski said. "They want us out in 90 days, but when you're dealing with Section 8, we have to go through everything a landlord requests and then some."

The housing authority has offered to help residents find new apartments and is also easing the transition by refunding cleaning deposits and last month's rent.

The county, which owns nearby Paine Field, bought the phased-out military housing and 67 acres from the U.S. Navy for $6 million in 1996.

Navy families remained there until 2001, when new military housing opened in Smokey Point.

The land was bought with future airport uses in mind.

Instead of immediately tearing the 1950s-era houses down and leaving the land fallow, the county agreed to offer the units as temporary market-rate housing through a lease with the county housing authority. The revenue collected from rent helped pay for the land purchase.

The August 2001 agreement required the housing authority to manage the property for at least six years and no more than 11 years, said Brian Parry, executive office administrator for County Executive Aaron Reardon.

The housing authority on March 13 wrote a letter to the county asking to be notified as soon as a decision on a new lease was firm. The letter said it stopped leasing vacant residences in March. The letter also said the timing is good so children can finish the school year and be in a new home before the next school year.

The county reached a 55-year-lease deal with Seattle-based Capstone Partners last week. That company plans to build and lease a 250,000-square-foot building to Korry Electronics, whose products include overhead cockpit panels for the Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner.

The aerospace and defense industry supplier had been in talks with the Port of Seattle to move to Port property from its facility in the South Lake Union area, but those discussions ended earlier this month.

Davis said residents were promptly informed after Capstone signed the lease.

It's understandable some are upset, he said. "Nobody likes to be told they have to move."



Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA