Affordable Housing Expands in Seattle's Central District and South End
A handful of new affordable housing complexes in the Central District and South End are providing some welcome relief to apartment-seekers amidst a housing affordability crunch. Permit applications for new apartment buildings in Seattle have plummeted by 39% in the last year, and the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Seattle climbed to $2,200.
Non-profit housing organizations Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) and SouthEast Effective Development (SEED) are working on a slate of projects targeted toward the needs of some of the city’s most racially diverse communities.
Last month, LIHI began leasing units in Nichols Court, a six-story, 148-unit affordable apartment complex at 7544 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S a short walk from the Othello light rail station. Situated on the former site of a tiny home village owned and operated by LIHI for eight years, Nichols Court offers subsidized rentals for those earning up to 50% and 60% of area median income (AMI).
Meanwhile, in Rainier Valley, SEED is hoping to break ground on the Sam Smith Apartments complex next year, the fifth and final building in the Rainier Court complex, which will have transformed a polluted brownfield near Rainier Avenue into housing for 178 individuals and families over the course of 20 years.
https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/11/26/affordable-housing-expands-in-seattles-central-district-and-south-end/