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| A rendering of the proposed Filipino Community Village housing project in Seattle. |
IT'S THE BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT that could ever be given to the Filipino community in Seattle.
The Filipino Community Center Monday (Dec. 17) was awarded $11 million to construct homes for low-income seniors as well as a youth center.
Along side the existing center, the Filipino Community Village, a four story building with 94 affordable housing units designed for low-income seniors. The project is part of the city’s plan to invest $101 million into building and preserving 1450 affordable homes throughout the city.
“The Filipino Community Center has been a dream for many of the community for many many years,” said Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. “This community has been at the heart of trying to preserve the culture of the Filipino community.”
The Filipino Community Village project started nearly a decade ago and has involved the purchase of seven parcels of land near the community center, said Filipino Community of Seattle Executive Director Sheila Burrus. Although the center already provided free lunch and classes to low-income seniors, a 2012 community survey also revealed the overwhelming need for senior housing.
“Our elders are aging and they don’t want to be far from the community center,” Burrus said.
“We’re hoping to … mitigate some of our seniors leaving the city,” Burrus said, adding that many Filipino elders are “disproportionately targeted” by rising rent because of their low incomes.
The center already offers the seniors culturally appropriate food, as well as health examinations from volunteer doctors and nurses from within the Filipino community. Yet rising rent has forced many seniors to move farther away from these services to Kent, Bryn Mawr-Skyway, and Renton, she added.
The new housing project will include space for performing arts as well as a gym. The project should be completed in the year 2020.
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