Ballmer Group Launches Multi-Year Initiative to Help Build 10,000+ Affordable Homes for Washington Families
Ballmer Group is excited to announce the launch of the Washington Family Housing Fund, a unique philanthropic partnership with the Washington State Housing Finance Commission to support the construction of affordable rental housing that is designed for families with children. In the coming years, the fund will aim to build at least 10,000 affordable homes for families across the state.
At Ballmer Group, we know that housing and economic mobility are closely connected. Where a family lives affects their access to schools, jobs, healthcare, and other important resources. Since housing is often a family’s biggest monthly expense, unaffordable rent can force difficult choices, such as cutting back on food and other essentials. Families struggling with high housing costs may also have to move frequently, which can lead to missed school days and lower academic performance for children.
We also know that housing affordability is a top priority for families in Washington State. Ballmer Group recently commissioned a survey of low-income parents across the state to better understand their needs, priorities, and goals. Parents consistently identified rising housing costs as the biggest threat to their family’s financial security, and when asked what kind of support they needed most, housing was the most common answer. The results were similar across counties, household types, race, and income levels.
Those answers make sense. Over the past 10 years, rent prices in Washington have steadily increased faster than wages, causing a housing affordability crisis for many working families. Today, more than one in four renters in the state spend at least half of their monthly income on housing, leaving families one unexpected expense away from falling behind on payments or facing an eviction notice on their front door.
At its core, this is a supply issue: there is a shortage of rental homes in Washington that cannot keep up with rising demand. Over the next 20 years, the state estimates that it will need to build more than 9,000 homes annually for very low-income renters earning between 30 percent and 50 percent of the area median income. We estimate that at least one-third of that total—about 3,000 affordable homes annually—need to be suitable for families with children.
That’s why we created the Washington Family Housing Fund, a new multi-year initiative designed to address these challenges by increasing the supply of stable, affordable housing for families.
Here’s how it will work:
- The fund will support developers building new rental housing anywhere in Washington State by offering up to $150,000 in financing for each eligible unit. This assistance will come as a zero-interest, forgivable loan, while the remaining construction costs are covered by the owner’s equity, loans, or other sources.
- Units eligible for this support must have at least two bedrooms and be affordable to families earning about 50 percent of the area median income. To qualify for funding, developers must offer rent at a significant discount relative to comparable market-rate housing in the area, and developers must commit to affordable rents for at least 60 years.
- To ensure the fund adds new housing options rather than compete with existing programs, projects will not depend on limited public resources like Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. This allows the fund to create a new, additional supply of family housing while focusing on cost efficiency and long-term affordability.
“We know our state needs more rental homes that are affordable for families, but the market isn’t building enough of them each year,” said Steve Ballmer, Co-Founder of Ballmer Group. “We want rents to stay affordable, but developers also need to cover their costs. Our fund is intended to help developers fill this financial gap while helping low-income families save hundreds of dollars on rent each month.”
As part of the fund’s launch, Ballmer Group has pre-approved 10 forgivable loans totaling $160 million to help build 1,120 affordable rental homes for families across the state. On average, families living in those homes are expected to save $750 each month on rent. Construction is already underway on the first development in Pierce County, and the other approved projects represent a variety of building types and locations, from urban areas like West Seattle to more rural communities like Twisp.
“In the coming years, we hope the Washington Family Housing Fund can help to unlock capital, speed up the pace of development, and make a meaningful dent in Washington’s housing shortage,” said Terri Ludwig, CEO of Ballmer Group. “It’s one of many solutions needed to realize a future where every family in Washington has access to a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home.”
To reach that goal, we can’t rely on a single fund alone. We also need regulatory changes and new ideas in the market to make it less expensive to build and operate housing across all levels of affordability. We must attract billions of dollars from both public and private sources to develop and maintain affordable housing. Additionally, we need to significantly increase funding for rental assistance programs – especially the federal Section 8 voucher program – to help our state’s lowest-income families find and keep affordable housing.
We hope that the Washington Family Housing Fund will meaningfully contribute to those solutions. To learn more or start a conversation about a potential partnership, visit the fund’s website.