Spokane prepares to build new affordable housing units with library access for both refugee and public

Alexandra Duggan, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
·4 min read
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May 15—Spokane is one step closer to seeing $10 million in affordable housing units for refugees and the general public by 2025, without the use of tax dollars.

Thrive International, an organization that provides transitional housing to refugee and immigrant families, will develop 6980 N. Nevada St. with support from the Spokane Public Library.

The new 48-unit complex will be a combined effort to help relieve the affordable housing crisis as well as a global refugee crisis in Spokane, Thrive International Director Mark Finney told onlookers at a partnership launch Wednesday afternoon between Thrive and the Spokane Public Library. Mayor Lisa Brown also attended, declaring her support for the effort and the value of welcoming refugees into Spokane.

Spokane Public Library Executive Director Andrew Chanse said the library district bought the land from a bond in the 1990s to build a new library, but nothing came of it because of building issues with a sewer pipe that runs through the middle of the lot.

When Thrive came to the Spokane Public Library last year and asked for the land to build affordable housing, they exchanged the idea of community library resources built in on the same property.

That property plan includes a playground, a community garden, a greenhouse, a community center and a 24/7 library kiosk for books and library materials available outside of the main location.

Half of the apartments on the 1.64-acre lot will be reserved for refugees, while the other half will be open to the general public. Everyone in the Nevada neighborhood will be able to access the amenities.

Robert Foster, managing director of Courage Housing, is working with Thrive for the development of the project. He said they're paying for the maintenance, construction costs, upkeep and more expenses because the library supplied the land to Thrive for $10 a year spanning a period of 50 years.

Those costs will be offset by private, out-of-state investors with ties to Spokane, Foster said. He declined to name the investors on Wednesday without their permission.

"They're coming in with their capital that we are using as equity. And then the bank will be giving us a loan to complete the rest of that," Foster said.

Thrive's LLC will issue promissory notes to the investors, who will give Thrive a loan. Those investors will be getting a return, he said.

"At the end of 10 years, our goal is that Thrive, the nonprofit, is a 100% owner of the project and all of the private investors are out," Foster said. "Our investors are great people, but we don't want private, profit-seeking motives getting in the way of our service to the community."

Before the library offered the land to Thrive, it surveyed the community for support, Foster said. People were fond of the idea that amenities surrounding an apartment complex will be available to everyone, and the go-ahead was given to begin the development planning.

"It's not just for this complex. That's the vision," he said.

Staff at Thrive will also provide refugees at the complex with citizenship services and connect them to health care and vocational training, Foster said. It won't be full time because the community center is first and foremost for the library, but Thrive staff will use that center as a space for refugee needs.

Spokane Public Library already allows people to borrow public spaces online as long as they sign up. The spaces around town require an access code to get inside. The space at the new property will be the same concept, Chanse said.

It will not require any new library staff either, since library programmers and educators already offer their services at different locations around Spokane. It's just one more stop, Chanse said.

"Maybe they will do a story time here, or an educational program here about gardening. They are hypermobile with that," Chanse said. "We just want to be able to offer equal service around the community, and it's a nimble way for us to deliver it."

Voters approved a $77 million library bond in 2018. Chanse said the goal was to implement more 24/7 library kiosks, but there were no "takers" in that area.

In his opinion, this is the best way to open more access to library services while also helping those with housing needs.

"The integration of public library space in collaboration with this housing development, it's a really unique thing in this country for this to happen," Chanse said at the launch on Wednesday. "... We will be enriching the lives and strengthening our sense of community throughout Spokane."

The upcoming development marks Thrive's second venture into refugee housing in Spokane.

The Thrive Center, situated at the former Quality Inn, 10 E. Fourth Ave., offers transitional housing for refugee families. Nearly 95% of those are Ukrainian families displaced by the ongoing Russian conflict.