Group wants senior housing at Hal Moe Pool site in Snohomish

Published 6:07 pm Sunday, February 21, 2016

SNOHOMISH — A nonprofit here has a plan and money to build new affordable apartments for seniors living with low incomes. But the Snohomish Affordable Housing Group is having trouble finding space to do it.

The nonprofit hopes to be included as the city plans a new purpose for about 1 acre of the Hal Moe Pool site.

Since 1992, the group has constructed four buildings with a total of 103 apartments for low-income tenants, including some seniors, in Snohomish. The nonprofit is self-sustaining with rents at about 45 percent of market value, said Bill Raser, a board member since 2002.

The group does not go for traditional government grants or subsidies, which gives it more control of costs. Instead, building and maintenance costs are kept low by negotiating favorable loans and finding donated or reduced-rate services, Raser said.

With home prices and rents skyrocketing and homelessness on the rise across the Puget Sound region, cities and groups have been asking leaders with the Snohomish nonprofit to help them find smart ways to increase the availability of affordable housing, Raser said.

Many of the nonprofit’s tenants were unable to get into subsidized housing and could have ended up on the streets, he said.

“We don’t solve the homeless problem,” Raser said. “But adding affordable housing helps.”

Now, his group has turned its attention to promoting what it hopes is its next project in Snohomish. The nonprofit wants to build 21 apartments for low-income seniors on the Hal Moe Pool site.

It has offered to save the city an estimated $150,000 by tearing down the deteriorating building, filling the pool and leveling the site. In exchange, the nonprofit wants to use half an acre on site to developing housing for seniors.

The city had planned to use some of the money from a proposed metropolitan park taxing district to redevelop the Hal Moe site. But in August, an overwhelming majority of Snohomish voters rejected it by 68.7 percent.

The defeat sent the city back to the drawing board.

It has since set aside $50,000 to pay for a review of options for using the Hal Moe Pool site. A team of 10 volunteers was selected in January. They will explore potential uses for the site, find out how much it would cost to incorporate various ideas into plans and research rules that could affect development.

“They don’t have the facts yet,” City Project Manager Denise Johns? said. “It’ll be some time before they have enough information to evaluate ideas.”

Snohomish residents have suggested a multipurpose community building, a covered skatepark and a number of other ideas for the space.

Beyond finding a use, the volunteers are tasked with figuring out whether to redevelop the existing pool building or to construct a new one. The plan is to hire an architectural firm to help evaluate that and come up with designs.

The Hal Moe group meets at 5:30 p.m. on the last Thursday of each month at the Snohomish Senior Center. Anyone is welcome to attend.

The volunteers plan to have community meetings before making initial recommendations to the City Council this fall.

The Hal Moe Pool was built in the 1960s. The city sold it to the Snohomish School District for $1 in 1989.

The district covered the pool and constructed most of the building. In 2007, the pool was closed due to extensive safety and structural problems with the building.

In 2013, the district sold the site back to the city, again for $1. The property came with a restriction that requires it to be available for public use.

City Manager Larry Bauman said Snohomish would consider going to the school district to see if the restriction could be adjusted if the group’s recommendations include affordable apartments.

“Hal Moe has been sitting there an eyesore for years,” Raser said. “We have the means to do this and we know there’s a dramatic need for senior housing.”

The nonprofit usually gets 50 applications for senior housing a year, he said. Those are from people who fill out the paperwork despite being told only a few units open up each year.

Raser said 62 percent of the nonprofit’s tenants are living at 30 percent below the area median income. That’s an annual income of $18,850 for an individual. The other 38 percent have less than half the area’s median income, he said.

If approved, the nonprofit wants to use the same floorplan as its Centennial Trail Senior Housing at the Hal Moe site. The building near the Snohomish Senior Center was completed with 21 apartments in 2009.

Monthly rents in the proposed building would be similar to those at Centennial, about $420 for a one-bedroom and $445 for a two-bedroom, Raser said. The nonprofit also pays all of the utilities except electric.

“We’re hoping our idea will have some merit and the solution might work for the city” he said.

Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports.