News & Updates
October 29, 2026
Seattle Social Housing Developer buys second apartment building
Another apartment building will soon become permanently publicly owned and mixed-income as part of the ongoing expansion of social housing in Seattle.
The Seattle Social Housing Developer announced this week it plans to buy the Youngstown Flats, a six-story apartment building in West Seattle’s North Delridge neighborhood, for about $68 million. The deal, expected to close in December, would be the third project for the new developer focused on a novel form of affordable housing.
October 28, 2026
Seattle Social Housing Developer announces new West Seattle acquisition
The Seattle Social Housing Developer (SSHD) announced its second acquisition on Tuesday, a six-story building with nearly 200 homes in the heart of West Seattle.
The Developer’s Board approved the acquisition on Tuesday night.
SSHD is planning to buy Youngstown Flats for about $68 million and expects to close on the property in mid-December. One of the central attractions of the complex were its large unit sizes. On average, each apartment is more than 800 square feet, and Youngstown Flats offers nearly 50 two-bedroom apartments.
October 28, 2026
Seattle Social Housing Developer Acquires Youngstown Flats, Adding 195 Homes to Portfolio
On Tuesday, the Seattle Social Housing Developer (SSHD) announced it is acquiring Youngstown Flats, a six-story apartment complex with 195 homes, located in West Seattle.
The property marks the recently funded public developer’s second acquisition of an apartment complex. The SSHD’s board granted a stamp of approval for the acquisition on Tuesday night. SSHD says it expects to buy Youngstown Flats for about $68 million and close on the property in mid-December.
October 23, 2026
Seattle Social Housing Developer Announces First Construction Project
At a chilly morning press conference today, Seattle Social Housing Developer (SSHD) Interim CEO Tiffani McCoy announced plans for the agency’s first original construction project, a five-story apartment building in the Central District on the lot that used to belong to the late housing advocate Rep. Frank Chopp. Scheduled to open in 2028, the development will provide 20 units of housing, leased at a mix of affordable and market rate rents.
The Central District site is SSHD’s second official housing project, following the May acquisition of the 150-unit Elara at the Market in Belltown. The two are part of a rapidly expanding housing portfolio—the agency hopes to reach 1,000 units owned or in the pipeline by the end of 2027. McCoy says the SSHD has a third yet-to-be-announced acquisition that will bring the total to 300 units by the end of this year.
October 16, 2026
SSHD announces Seattle’s first ever social housing construction project
The Seattle Social Housing Developer (SSHD) announced its first construction project ever on Friday, marking a milestone for the new public agency.
On Thursday night, SSHD’s Board unanimously approved the new construction project in the Central District, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2028.
The construction site is home to two cabin like structures, which former speaker of the Washington State House of Representatives Frank Chopp built as a young man with his father. Chopp named one of the buildings “the Bird” because he thought it looked exactly like a bird taking off. This larger building has since been a home to Chopp’s daughter, family friends, and various tenants.
Chopp and his wife, Nancy, initially planned to build a small apartment complex on the site and live there themselves. Nancy said she decided to sell the land to SSHD after Chopp’s passing in 2025 because she knew her husband believed social housing was one way to address the affordability crisis in Seattle.
September 8, 2026
Can Social Housing Deliver? Los Angeles and Seattle Pursue Two Distinct Paths
In recent years, the phrase “social housing” has gone from an obscure academic phrase to a policy vision that is being pursued in multiple cities across the United States.
In a 2021 webinar, sociologist Gianpaolo Baiocchi, who authored a white paper with H. Jacob Carlson on social housing the year before, explained that the phrase, “invites us to think about housing as something other than just an economic good . . . to begin to think of housing as closer to something like education or health.
“One of the lies we’ve been sold on in this country is that housing is a private good primarily to be bought and sold,” Baiocchi said.
At the time, the phrase “social housing” was somewhat obscure in the United States. Academics like Baiocchi, inspired by the success in European cities (notably in Vienna, Austria) of policies by that name that supported universal access to housing, helped popularize the term.
July 15, 2026
Take a tour of Seattle’s first ever social housing building
In 2023, Seattle voters were presented with a new approach to housing:
Mixed income public housing where rent from higher earning tenants would offset the rent of people making below the area median income. It was dubbed social housing by its supporters.
Seattle voters approved the idea and then, a couple years later, chose to give it a lot of money through a new tax on employers who pay individual salaries over $1 million dollars.
Now, the rubber is hitting the road, Seattle’s Social Housing Developer purchased its first property in June. Soundside recently went to see the apartment building in Belltown and met with Tiffani McCoy, the interim CEO of the social housing developer.
June 18, 2026
Take the Seattle social housing survey
Social Housing is for All of Us. So, let’s make sure it works for all of us. To ensure our resident governance framework is responsive and truly transformative, we need your input. Please take this 5 to 10 minute survey.
June 9, 2026
Seattle’s first social housing building draws more than 10K applicants
More than 10,000 people applied to live in Seattle’s first social housing building, a sign of the dire need for affordable housing in one of the nation’s most expensive cities.
The Seattle Social Housing Developer announced last month it would buy the 150-unit Elara at the Market apartments in Belltown, transitioning the high-end building to a mix of deeply affordable and market-rate homes in the first test of social housing in Seattle.
Unlike traditional affordable housing, social housing includes tenants at a wide range of income levels in the same buildings. Popular in Europe, the goal is to subsidize more affordable rents for low-income renters, reduce economic segregation and keep the buildings affordable forever.
May 22, 2026
Seattle’s first social housing building
The Seattle Social Housing Developer (SSHD) will soon be the new owner of the Elara at the Market apartment complex, making social housing a reality in the city.
The purchase of the first building was unanimously approved by the SSHD Board on Thursday.
The Elara apartment complex is next to world-class amenities, across the street from Seattle’s beloved Pike Place Market and the new Waterfront Park.
The building itself has 150 units, all in excellent condition. SSHD paid about $60 million for the apartment complex, well below the recent sales price of quality apartment units in downtown Seattle.