In the 1990’s when print advertising was still a thing, the dairy industry got attention with it’s “Got Milk?” campaign, featuring those words in black on a white billboard. The ads, featuring celebrities sporting milk “moustaches”, appeared in newspapers and were pretty successful. It got attention, and milk consumption went up.
Here in Seattle, while serving on the Board of the Housing Development Consortium, I proposed a similar ad campaign for “Got Land?” to encourage people in King County to consider donating land for the creation of affordable housing. However, the Housing Development Consortium, a non-profit devoted to ensuring that all people live with dignity in safe, healthy, and affordable homes, didn’t have the budget to broadcast it more widely at the time.
Most people are painfully aware of the current housing crisis, but many landowners sitting on vacant properties may be unaware that they can help alleviate it. Aside from the personal tax benefits of a land donation, utilizing existing empty lots for infill housing is a great way to reinforce the social fabric of a neighborhood, avoid sprawl, utilize existing infrastructure to reduce costs, and begin to address the dearth of affordable housing in Seattle.
Back in 2018, an existing client of my architecture firm, Schemata Workshop, came to us with an interesting proposition: Chakorn Phisuthikul and Marilyn Heinemann were willing to donate a vacant piece of property they owned across the street from the Woodland Park Zoo, but only if it were for a home-ownership development that was guaranteed to be perpetually affordable. This was the start of a project Chakorn dubbed “ZuDu,” a cheeky homage to the Zoo’s annual donation of its manure for local gardeners to add to their compost. As the project proceeded, donors reconsidered ZuDu, and the working name became PAHO (permanently affordable home ownership).
MOU signing at the Edge Developers office
Chakorn and Marilyn interviewed several local non-profit organizations dedicated to home-ownership opportunities in the region and eventually chose Homestead Community Land Trust (HCLT). The organization continues to own the land, holding it in a legal trust, effectively removing the value of the land from the purchase price of a home, a strategy becoming more widespread in the effort to create more affordable housing.
In December 2019, Chakorn and Marilyn entered into an agreement for the transfer of the land. Edge Developers were to serve as a development consultant, Schemata Workshop as the architect, and Edge Construction as the general contractor. The signing was also an acknowledgment of interdependence – not only between Chakorn and Marilyn with HCLT and their private/non-profit partnership, but also between private citizens and their greater community.
Woodland View groundbreaking
Last spring PAHO broke ground with its final name, Woodland View. The project did not proceed without some struggle, common to many housing projects in Seattle. More than once Chakorn asked, “Why is it so hard for me to donate my land to build affordable housing?” The City has been moving to address many barriers to the development of affordable housing by streamlining permitting, exempting Design Review, increasing density, and incentivizing the development of middle housing on infill lots. We are hopeful that it will continue to become easier to develop affordable housing in the future.
The twenty-five unit condominium building, expected to be completed in February of 2026, provides nineteen permanently affordable homes to income-qualifying buyers through the land trust, and six market-rate homes to help offset the initial home sale prices. All residents will benefit from the prime location, with access to the zoo and adjacent playground, proximity to neighborhood retail, and stunning views from the upper floors of the Cascades and Olympics. Most importantly, this affordable home ownership opportunity will allow hard-working families to put down roots and find housing stability for generations to come.
In a time when the government is unpredictable and federal resources are being cut for many basic and essential services, now is an ideal time for more private citizens like Chakorn and Marilyn to step up. Please reach out if you’re interested or know someone who is able to make a similar positive impact on livability in our region.