Apartments to be built in Clarkston

A 72-unit apartment complex for families who have been priced out of the housing market is moving forward just west of Clarkston’s Walmart.

A not-for-profit group, Horizon Alliance, has received a $5 million loan from the Washington State Housing Trust Fund. Horizon Housing Alliance has also been allocated $17 million in low-income housing tax credits issued by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission for the project anticipated to be ready by the end of 2024.

The one-, two- and three-bedroom units in the complex will be available to households that earn 60 percent or less of the median income in Asotin County, with a priority being placed on families exiting homelessness, said Jonathan Mallahan, chief housing officer of Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington.

Mallahan’s employer is a partner with Horizon Housing Alliance on the Clarkston complex, providing property management and services for tenants.

A family of four with a household income as high as $48,480 a year could qualify for a two-bedroom unit in the complex where rents will be set at 30 percent of each family’s income, Mallahan said.

A community room that can be reserved for family gatherings, patios, a playground, bicycle storage and on-site mental health counseling are some of the amenities in the complex, he said.

“This is helping people move forward with their lives,” Mallahan said.

The financing mechanisms Horizon Alliance is using for the complex are ones that were created to encourage developers to build affordable housing, he said.

Any development constructed with a loan from the Washington State Housing Trust Fund has to rent to families that earn 60 percent or less of their community’s median income and provide rents on a sliding scale based on income for at least 40 years, Mallahan said.

The low-income tax credits became part of the federal Internal Revenue Service tax code in 1986 and are the way most affordable housing is constructed, he said.

Every state gets a certain amount of the credits based on population, and entities like Horizon Housing Alliance compete for them, Mallahan said.

The entities that receive the credits sell them to banks, which own the majority of the housing complexes for 15 years and then sell them back to the developers, typically at a very low price, he said.

The banks normally sell the tax credits to investors. The owners of the credits can deduct $1.09 from their federal tax obligation annually for every dollar of the credits they purchase for 10 years. The investors also get to claim the depreciation of the complexes.

Creating affordable places for families to live benefits communities in a number of ways, Mallahan said.

The Lewiston-Clarkston Valley complex will increase the supply of apartments in an area where the rental vacancy rate is less than 1%, he said.

“(A total of 50%) of the unit will be set aside for families exiting homelessness so there is a pathway for local residents into stability and self-sufficiency,” Mallahan said.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.