During a live morning press conference held on Wednesday, April 26th at Mercy Othello Plaza Apartments, an exciting public-private partnership was revealed between the City of Seattle, philanthropist Paul G. Allen and Mercy Housing Northwest (MHNW). MHNW is thrilled to announce that we will be developing a housing and family service center to serve homeless families with children in the Seattle-area.

Mr. Allen will donate $30 million in capital for this project, while Mayor Ed Murray is committing an additional $5 million in housing capital funds from the City of Seattle. In the fight against our city’s homelessness crisis, the goal of this partnership is to construct and operate a structure that includes permanent supportive housing and onsite services, which will serve as a convenient resource hub for families in need.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to create affordable apartments and a family service center where parents and children can get out of homelessness and regain resilience and dignity,” said MHNW President, Bill Rumpf.

While MHNW will develop, own and operate the complex, we look forward to collaborating with various nonprofit providers to provide services to homeless families. We hope to share more exciting details with you about this remarkable project as it further develops!

You can view live coverage from yesterday’s press conference on our MHNW Facebook page and the Seattle Channel, or read more on The Seattle Times’ feature story.