Seattle-based Catholic Community Services/Catholic Housing Services plans to build an 80-unit housing complex for the homeless on Kent’s West Hill. COURTESY GRAPHIC

Seattle-based Catholic Community Services/Catholic Housing Services plans to build an 80-unit housing complex for the homeless on Kent’s West Hill. COURTESY GRAPHIC

Housing complex for homeless to be built on Kent’s West Hill

Project near Lowe’s store east of Pacific Highway South

Plans are underway to build a four-story, 80-unit housing complex for the general homeless population and homeless veterans on Kent’s West Hill.

Kent Supportive Housing LLC has filed a notice of application with the city of Kent to build a 40-foot tall building with 69 studio and 11 one-bedroom units at the northeast corner of South 240th Street and 32nd Avenue South, just east of the Lowe’s store. The ground floor will have office space with 24/7 on-site staff.

Construction should start in March and take about 16 months to complete, according to the city permit application.

Kent Supportive Housing is part of Seattle-based Catholic Community Services/Catholic Housing Services, the human service outreach arms of the Catholic Church in Western Washington.

“We are excited to develop this property due to its proximity to groceries, retail and Highline College, as well as the forthcoming light rail station and other public transportation which provides our residents with even more access to services and downtown Kent,” said Michelle Umadhay, housing and community developer for Catholic Housing Services, in an Oct. 4 email.

Catholic Community Services, which has an office in downtown Kent, runs homeless shelters in South King County.

“We were provided feedback that the shelters are running at capacity and that permanent supportive housing is much needed in South King County,” Umadhay said. “We had reviewed more than 13 sites before finding a site that not only provided adequate access to public transportation, groceries, social services, etc., but was also adequate for development of a larger apartment building.”

The apartment complex will provide permanent supportive housing for veterans and homeless individuals with chronic mental illness and substance abuse, according to the city permit application.

Catholic Housing Services has significant experience in owning and managing properties similar to this Kent development, including properties in Olympia, Tacoma, Bellingham, Lynnwood and North Seattle, Umadhay said.

The cost of the project is about $24 million, Umadhay said. The project is fully funded through an allocation of low-income housing tax credits by the Washington State Housing Financing Commission, a Housing Trust Fund award from the state Department of Commerce and a capital funding award from King County.

Catholic Community Services operates two programs for veterans in King County: Supportive Services for Veteran Families, which offers rapid-rehousing services; and the Michael’s Place Grant Per Diem transitional housing program that offers temporary housing to 18 homeless veterans. Experiences by Catholic Community Services with those programs as well its involvement in the Veteran Operational Leadership Team of King County, led the group to develop the Kent site.

Catholic Housing Services worked with the King County Housing Authority on the Kent complex, and that agency will provide 80 project-based vouchers for residents, Umadhay said. Forty-four vouchers are Section 8 and will serve the general homeless population, and 36 vouchers are through Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing to serve homeless veterans.

“Project based vouchers bring rent dollars that are utilized for resident services, such as case managers, which is pertinent to the transition of our formerly homeless residents into permanent housing,” Umadhay said. “These vouchers, which will all be administered by the King County Housing Authority, are a large factor in making this type of project possible.”

Before city approval, the project is subject to the Midway Design Review, said city planner Jason Garnham in an email. He said that is a separate application process (from the permit), which is intended to create “interesting and high quality” projects in the vicinity of future high capacity transit facilities.

The cities of Kent and Des Moines have approved the Midway Design Review with Sound Transit’s plans to extend light rail along Kent’s West Hill. Construction on light rail from SeaTac to Federal Way is expected to begin in 2019 and be completed by 2024. A new station is planned for near South 236th Street and Pacific Highway South, just south of Kent Des Moines Road.


Talk to us

Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.

To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.

More in News

City of Kent Corrections Facility, 1230 Central Ave. S. COURTESY PHOTO, Kent Police
Medical examiner rules Kent female inmate jail death as ‘natural’

45-year-old woman died April 22 in City of Kent Corrections Facility

Kent Reporter photo
Kent Police Blotter: April 28 to May 11

Incidents include wanted woman, caught on camera, 99 Ranch Market robbery

Howard Hanson Dam along the Green River. COURTESY FILE PHOTO, U.S. Army Corps
Murray blasts Trump administration for cutting Hanson Dam funds

Congress had awarded $500 million for fish passage, water storage project; funds headed to red states

The Great Wall Shopping Mall, 18230 E. Valley Highway in Kent. COURTESY PHOTO, Great Wall Shopping Mall
Asian residents target of robberies in Kent, other cities

Kent Police issue crime alert for people to be ‘informed and vigilant’

T
Please subscribe and help support local journalism in Kent

The Kent Reporter is offering readers a new premium service that will help strengthen our mission to provide quality local journalism in the community.

City of Kent Corrections Facility, 1230 Central Ave. S. COURTESY PHOTO, Kent Police
Kent Police investigating city jail inmate death at local hospital

Medics transported Kent man, 36, to hospital after medical emergency in jail

t
Kent School District superintendent fined for election violations

State Public Disclosure Commission determines election law rules broken by Israel Vela, district staff

Kent Reporter Photo
Kent Police arrest husband for attacking his wife

Reportedly pointed a gun at her; assaulted family member who came to help

t
Kent Police overtime costs jump to $4.1 million in 2024

A 58% increase from 2021; two officers made more than $100,000 each in OT

Kentwood High School, in Covington. COURTESY PHOTO, Kent School District
Ex-Kentwood High teacher pleads guilty to sex charge with student

Steve Bilvais, 56, to be sentenced June 27 for communicating with a minor for immoral purposes

Courtesy Graphic
Renton, Bellevue among cities of possible measles exposure

For those possibly exposed to measles between April 30 and May 3, the most likely time to become sick would be between May 7 and 24.

A speed limiter device, like this one, will be required for repeat speeding offenders under a Washington law signed on May 12, 2025. The law doesn’t take effect until 2029. (Photo by Jake Goldstein-Street/Washington State Standard)
WA to rein in fast drivers with speed limiters

The new law is named after four people killed in a crash last year near Renton: Boyd Buster Brown, Eloise Wilcoxson, Andrea Smith Hudson and Matilda Wilcoxson.