LYNNWOOD — The road to having two endangered mobile home parks become permanent affordable senior housing will be a long, difficult one, but it is possible, according to city and county officials.
The city of Lynnwood took its first step Monday, May 15 to support the effort.
The Housing Authority of Snohomish County is reasonably confident that it can find enough county, state and federal funding to buy the two parks and prevent the land from being developed into single family houses, said executive director Bob Davis. But there are no guarantees, Davis told the City Council.
“If we do this right, there should be enough resources. But that is my opinion; I do not distribute the money,” Davis said. “There is no guarantee.”
The first step is a Council resolution affirming the city’s support and the Council’s willingness to lobby county and state officials for money, Davis told the Council.
The Council directed city staff to draft a resolution which could be ready and approved by the Council as early as Monday, May 22.
If the resolution passes, the housing authority will likely present a letter of intent to buy the land within 48 hours to the developer, Davis said. After that, it will take about a year for the housing authority to secure enough government funding to seal the deal.
“Residents are going to have to deal with a certain level of anxiety for a few months,” Davis said.
The situation began when Lynnwood developer Mike Echelbarger bought the adjoining parks, The Squire, 4515 176th St. SW, and Kingsbury East, 17408 44th Ave. W., on March 31 for $6.8 million. Echelbarger offered the housing authority and anyone else who wants to preserve the parks a chance to buy the parks.
At the same time, Echelbarger is getting ready to build a neighborhood with 69 new houses on the site in case the land deal fails. By state law, he must give residents official notice and at least 12 months to leave.
Davis noted that Echelbarger’s offer is extremely rare.
The two parties would negotiate a sales price, but the Housing Authority cannot pay more than the land’s assessed value, which will be determined at a later date.
Kingsbury East, at 5.55 acres, is assessed by the County Assessor’s Office at more than $2 million. The Squire, at 5.27 acres, is assessed at more than $1.8 million. Together, the parks generate about $45,000 a month from tenant rents, Echelbarger said.
If the land deal fails, the development will likely go forward and the residents will be evicted, Davis said. If that happens, the housing authority will do what it can to help residents find new places to live, Davis said.
If the housing authority is successful, the agency will run the mobile home park in much the same way it runs any other affordable housing facility. The agency will provide a site manager and resident services coordinator, someone who provides information and access to a wide range of social services.
Ideally, the agency will be able to keep monthly rents for each mobile home as close to what they are today, which is about $400 to $500 per mobile home, Davis said.
In return, the housing authority has its own rules for residents. At least half of the people living in the parks must earn 80 percent of the median income or less, which is under $41,000 per year.
In addition, at least one member of the household must be over the age of 55, Davis said.
When residents are ready to leave the park, they will sell their homes to the housing authority. They must agree in advance that the sale price will be close to what they are worth today and not the market value, which several years from now will likely be much higher.
Such an agreement means residents will not get as much money for their homes in the future, but they will enjoy affordable rents as long as they live there, Davis said. It also means the next owner will enjoy the same affordable costs.
As the mobile homes get older, they will be refurbished or replaced by the housing authority and made available to future generations of older adults.
After talking to residents, Davis said these conditions did not appear to be an obstacle.
“This is lifestyle that is attractive to folks,” Davis said. “We have no doubt this will be an attractive place to live.”
Jenny Lynn Zappala, editor of the Lynnwood/Mountlake Terrace edition of The Enterprise, can be reached at lynnwood@heraldnet.com or 425-673-6531.
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