Apartment City

After a tense deadline last summer at the Highland Village apartments and nearly a year of wading through bureaucratic red tape , Bellevue has committed itself to the preservation of 76 below-market units. The Bellevue City Council voted 4 -0 to contribute $2 million from the city’s housing fund toward the King County Housing Authority to help purchase the property. The 86 families (and 85 children in local schools) of the Highland Village apartment complex were faced with an eviction notice last year, which told the residents to be out by the beginning of October. A developer, Intracorp, had sights on the property for market-rate condominiums. The residents, by-and-large, are near the 60 percent area median income level . Many of the residents speak English as a second language. According to the King County Housing Authority ’s own guidelines, the area median income for a family of four is $90,000. Highland Village was charging residents well below market rent, but many com...

BELLEVUE -- There were tears of joy in Bellevue on Friday evening, as residents of Highland Village Apartments were told they could stay in their homes. The plan to save one of the last affordable housing options in the area was unveiled to residents during a community meeting. The City of Bellevue, the King County Housing Authority , and members of the state legislature all worked together to make it happen. "For Bellevue, this was in a sense a test of, do we really mean we want to work on affordable housing ?  And this was an opportunity that came up to make something happen and we were determined to do that," said Bellevue Mayor John Stokes . Instead of being re-developed and sold as condos, the 76 apartments will now be bought by the housing authority . Officials say rent will be staying the same and no one will have to move. "This is gonna be the greatest good news of the year. This is Merry Christmas. This is Merry Christmas. I love it,” said Michael Simekhs, wh...