About Us
Mission
St. Andrew's Housing Group empowers individuals and families, supports diversity and strengthens communities by developing permanent affordable rental housing and providing supportive services.
Our Vision
Regardless of income, individuals and families in East King County have stable housing and strong support in diverse communities that empower success and foster a high quality of life.
We are working to help create an inviting Eastside community where families and individuals can choose to live regardless of income level:
- Teachers, service professionals and minimum wage earners are able to live in the same cities in which they work.
- Seniors need not leave their historic living locations simply because funds are limited or fixed.
- People who were once homeless can find permanent affordable housing and supportive services through providers that are committed to their successful transition into lives of independence and financial viability.
Our History
Founded in 1987 by members of Bellevue's Saint Andrew's Lutheran Church, SAHG became independently incorporated in 1989 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Until 1993, SAHG was a volunteer led organization. During this time, SAHG volunteers worked diligently to learn the business of developing affordable housing, establish SAHG within the market, create networking relationships, and build a solid reputation as a trustworthy developer of affordable housing. In 1992, SAHG opened its first housing development, Andrew's Arms, offering 14 units of affordable housing in Issaquah, Washington.
In 1993, SAHG's first Executive Director was hired and the groundbreaking work of the volunteers began to pay off as SAHG entered into a period of dramatic growth and accomplishment. Today, SAHG provides 325 units of affordable housing on King County's Eastside, serving more than 965 individuals and families. SAHG provides affordable housing in the following Eastside communities: Mercer Island, Issaquah, Redmond, Bellevue and Kirkland.
SAHG is headed by Executive Director, Ann Levine, and operated by twelve qualified and professional staff, an engaged and effective 18-member Board of Directors and a strong committee led corps of more than 275 volunteers. The Board of Directors includes members from the Eastside and Seattle who bring experience in commercial, industrial and mixed-use housing construction and management, commercial and nonprofit real estate development, community development finance and real estate law. Each Board member financially contributes each year, actively participates in fundraising and serves on at least one committee.
The Need
The increasingly high cost of living in Washington State is forcing families to move into areas with no transportation, few job opportunities and little personal security. In the worst cases, these families end up on the street. SAHG is creating solutions to this problem by bringing affordable housing to King County’s Eastside, the most populous county in Washington State. Consider the following statistics:
- In East King County, 14% of households (nearly 20,000) are low income. Almost 5% of Eastside inhabitants live below the poverty line.
- A person in King County has to earn $22.40 per hour, more than twice the state minimum wage, to afford to rent a modest two-bedroom home.
- Even though 13% of Eastside households earn less than 30% of area median income, fewer than 1% of Eastside housing units are affordable to that income group.
- Eastside rents are the highest suburban rents in the county (Terra Property Analytics)
Strategic Plan
SAHG has continued to implement goals outlined in our 5-year Strategic Plan, which was launched in February 2007. The successful accomplishment of these goals will result in greater community awareness of the need for affordable housing, increased production of housing units and a new Resident Services Program that will allow us to better meet the needs of those living in SAHG properties.
Community Advocacy
The need for affordable housing in East King County has become a crisis that impacts us all. We believe that our community deserves to have greater awareness of this crisis and how it impacts transportation, education, healthcare and costs to taxpayers. SAHG will work on advocacy and community outreach efforts in new ways by implementing a community outreach effort, providing resources to educate the greater community and by helping to create new solutions for the housing challenges faced by Eastside communities.
Increase Property Portfolio
In response to the growing need for housing over the past few years, St. Andrew's Housingg Group is now poised to develop 200 new affordable units over the next five years, resulting in a 62% increase in SAHG’s project portfolio and addressing urgent community needs for housing. Earlier this year, SAHG broke ground on Andrew’s Glen, which will provide 40-units of housing in Bellevue targeting homeless veterans, and in October will break ground on Francis Village, which will add 60 additional units of housing in Kirkland.
Resident Services Program
St. Andrew’s Housing Group has recognized that while providing affordable, permanent rental housing is the key first step in preventing or ending homelessness, many of the residents entering its housing program may want or need supportive services to help them succeed and thrive in this housing and to maintain long-term stability. In response to this need, SAHG has developed a Resident Services Program, designed to help build residents’ skills, increase their financial stability, provide children with educational assistance and cultivate a strong community at each property. Our Resident Services Program helps residents in two ways:
- 1) By providing onsite services to enhance residents’ skills, build their self-sufficiency, and connect them to their neighbors and their community. Such services include money management training, career planning, leadership development activities and parental support for adult residents as well as after-school tutoring, computer labs, craft and cooking classes as well as summer camp programs for children.
- 2) By connecting them to valuable services in the community that they may not be aware of, such as mental health services, grief and loss counseling, substance or physical abuse counseling, and job search assistance.
SAHG believes that, through the foundation of stable housing and supportive services, residents will thrive. SAHG hopes to help residents achieve greater job and income stability and strives to create a supportive and well-coordinated environment where residents can receive the help they need if and when they experience financial struggles, without jeopardizing their housing stability. SAHG also hopes to build strong families where adults feel effective as parents and children are healthy and succeeding in school.
This program is currently available to 833 residents in eight of SAHG's ten properties.
For Further Information
Check out one of the following pages:
Our 2008 990 | SAHG Department Directors SAHG Department Staff | |
|---|---|
Ann Levine |
Hester Winn |
Sue Bliven |
Meg Colombi |
|
Julie Strain |
Jennifer Daly |
Sara Cox |
Eric Evans |
Marchelle Mertens |
Rachel Mathison |
Sarah Larson |
|
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| SAHG Board of Directors | |
|---|---|
Jim Long, President |
Judy Gowdy, Vice President |
Jason Anderson, Treasurer |
Linda Bergam, Secretary |
Larry Abner |
Sterling Bentsen |
Eric Campbell |
Jeff Churchill |
Steve Dennis |
Paul Dressel |
Darel Harrison |
Joe Ingram |
Clare Moe |
Jack Morrison, Vice President Global Account Manager, Cisco Systems |
| Lucy Sannes President, Sannes & Associates Inc. |
Michael Schneider |
Marni Wright |
Position Currently Available |