Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King & Kittitas Counties has completed the largest condominium development in the organization’s 40-year history, creating 58 permanently affordable homes in Seattle’s Columbia City and establishing a new model for affordable homeownership in one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets.
Community members, elected officials and Habitat supporters gathered Saturday to celebrate the completion of Liberty Commons, a five-story condominium development along Martin Luther King Jr. Way South that will provide affordable homeownership opportunities for working families while placing them within walking distance of the Columbia City light rail station.
The 58-home development is the largest single multifamily building completed by any Habitat for Humanity affiliate worldwide. The project includes five studio units, 26 one-bedroom homes and 27 two-bedroom homes.
“We wanted to maximize this investment and really try to put as much of an impact as we could on the homeownership and housing crisis that we’re all working on here in Seattle,” said Ali Sheibani, Habitat SKKC’s vice president of Community Development Finance.
The project traces its roots to 2021, when Habitat acquired the property after a private developer abandoned plans to build market-rate micro-apartments because of changing market conditions.
“I think it was summer of 2021,” Sheibani recalled. “We were approached by a real estate developer and investor that owned the property and were planning on originally building apartments, those tiny little micro-units. They were going to build a 100-unit building there in that space, but the market had softened, so they weren’t able to make that pencil anymore.”
A historic donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott helped Habitat purchase the property and move forward with the ambitious project, which differs significantly from the organization’s traditional single-family homes and townhouses.
“Our normal style of building are either single-family homes or townhome-style builds,” Sheibani said. “Doing these high-rise condos… this is going to be a very large, ambitious endeavor on our end. In fact, this building at 58 units will be the largest single Habitat building in the world once it’s completed.”
Liberty Commons was financed through a combination of public and private investments, including support from the State of Washington, the City of Seattle, Amazon, the National Housing Trust and Washington Trust Bank.
The development operates as a Community Land Trust, allowing buyers to purchase their homes while leasing the land beneath them. The model enables homeowners to build equity while ensuring the homes remain affordable for future buyers through limits on resale appreciation.
The homes are reserved for households earning 80% or less of the area’s median income, with monthly housing costs capped at 35% of a family’s gross income.
“These homes are affordable to folks making under $80,000, actually folks making $42,000 to $65,000 a year depending on the unit size,” Sheibani said. “So at $42,000, that’s minimum wage in Seattle. Someone making minimum wage in Seattle can own a home and can own a condo. Someone working a front desk, or an admin position, or is a driver, or a first-year apprentice at a union… all those folks can participate in homeownership in Seattle.”
Habitat also provides financial counseling, down payment assistance and debt reduction programs to help first-time buyers qualify for a mortgage. Eligible homebuyers may also qualify for the Washington State Housing Finance Commission’s Covenant Homeownership Program, while veterans may be eligible for additional down payment assistance.
For Sheibani, Liberty Commons represents a shift in how people think about both affordable housing and Habitat for Humanity.
“They don’t have to move out to Tacoma to be able to build equity right here in the city that they love,” he said. “We are the starter home alternative. I think people think of Habitat as being for the ‘needy,’ and that’s just not true anymore. This is about homeownership opportunities for all of us.”
Applications remain open for the remaining homes at Liberty Commons.
“I think homeownership is something that anyone can achieve,” Sheibani said. “I think they should just take a chance and apply.”
