A building acquired by Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle for affordable housing last fall
A REVIVAL market at Capitol Hill Station (Image: Capitol Hill EcoDistrict)
The Capitol Hill EcoDistrict, one of the closest organizations the neighborhood currently has to an independent community group representing the area’s neighborhoods in the city’s growth and development process, is moving under the wings of Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle with a renewed focus on equity.
“This next phase of partnership with the Urban League is an opportunity for the EcoDistrict to co-create a future for equitable community development at scale,” EcoDistrict executive director Donna Moodie said in the announcement.
The Capitol Hill EcoDistrict took shape more than a decade ago as it as formed by what was then known as Capitol Hill Housing. The developer and manager of affordable housing across Capitol Hill recognized its shifting focus to a larger citywide mandate with a change of its name to Community Roots Housing in the time since. Now the community-focused organization it helped create to address environmental and social concerns in the area’s development is ready for a larger mandate.
The Urban League is growing. Last week, it announced plans to move from its Central District headquarters at 14th and Yesler to Rainier Ave as part of a major development to create both a new hq and around 300 new affordable apartment units.
The project is part of increased efforts around affordable housing by the organization including $97 million in property acquisitions last fall.
CHS spoke with Moodie here last October as the EcoDistrict’s research was part of efforts to shape Seattle’s comprehensive growth plan and champion development bringing some of the vital elements of life on Capitol Hill including robust access to public transit to more parts of the city while also creating more projects adding affordable housing across Seattle.
The EcoDistrict also touts its successes forming the Capitol Hill Renter Initiative that eventually helped lead to the Seattle Renter’s Commission, its advocacy for the passage of Mandatory Housing Affordability, an affordable housing transit pass pilot, the creation of the Lowell Elementary School-based health center and community hub, and holding REVIVAL Market Street pop-ups above Capitol Hill Station.
The Urban League says the Capitol Hill EcoDistrict is linking up with it “at a significant moment.”
“EcoDistricts.org, the national organization advancing a new model of urban development that certified the Capitol Hill EcoDistrict in 2021, was recently acquired by the Partnership for Southern Equity, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that promotes racial equity and shared prosperity for all in the American South,” the group said in the announcement.
According to the announcement, Moodie plans to champion the new “Just Growth” agenda shaped at the national level in her continued work through the EcoDistrict under ULMS.
CHS first reported on the planning for the new ecodistrict in 2011. At the time, some of the discussion took on elements of a fixed-place district where the environment, social, and equity elements would be applied and focused. The “district” element of the effort, it turns out, wasn’t really the point. Instead, the effort “served as a test lab for innovative, community-led solutions to neighborhood priorities,” as the announcement made last week describes the organization.
For Community Roots Housing, the end of the partnership represents a continued transition for the nearly 50-year-old organization which continues to hold affordable properties across the neighborhood but has also taken on a focus beyond Capitol Hill. Included in this has been an unwinding of some of the group’s portfolio including 15th Ave E’s Fredonia building which sold earlier this year in a transaction the organization says helped fund “hundreds of affordable units” in the city.
The move also comes as Moodie has shifted her business focus to a new area. CHS reported her on her plans to reopen her popular Marjorie restaurant in the Midtown Square development at 23rd and Union.
As for neighborhood representation in discussions at Seattle City Hall, Capitol Hill’s voice is a bit unorganized at the moment with its community council gone quiet and its chamber, belly up.
To learn more, check out capitolhillecodistrict.org.
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I thought the focus of an EcoDistrict was environmental sustainability. There are so many buzzwords in the description that is is hard to track if its mission still has anything to do with ecosystems and Capitol Hill anymore. It seems like it is just an advocacy organization for “affordable housing” developers masquerading as a grassroots community environmental organization.
Affordable housing is a key part of sustainability and has always been a part of the Capitol Hill ecodistrict, here’s a snippet from a decade old CHS article…
The goal will be to grow a district around efforts like the center that connects to the neighborhood as a whole. Sisolak says he is aware that a district solely focused on the buildings may not be enough. “We think the ecodistrict should have social justice elements,” he said. Sisolak said he is interested in cost — not just rent but also how much people pay for a night out or groceries. Is affordability green? And, if so, how will it be measured?
https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2013/04/chs-pics-capitol-hill-ecodistrict-pedals-to-a-start-and-where-its-going-next/
You are correct.
And I have a tuxedo cat but it’s close enough to a zebra.