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Common Ground 

Description

Common Ground fights homelessness by helping nonprofits navigate the often complex world of housing and advocacy.  Our housing specialists help community organizations develop, own, and manage affordable housing.  We also provide additional services to preserve existing housing in low-income communities.  Common Ground advocates for public policies that support affordable housing.  Our staff and board are dedicated to building and sustaining the political will to end homelessness.  Common Ground projects directly serve low-income families and people who are homeless, or in need of supportive services.  Each housing development we help create will serve an average of 60 individuals for at least 50 years.  We’ve touched 264,000 people since 1980!

Mission Statement
Common Ground's mission is to create and preserve housing for people with low incomes and special needs.
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Common Ground
419 Occidental Ave S 
Seattle 
WA
98104-2886 
(206) 461-4500 

Scott Schaffer 
Executive Director 

Programs

Common Ground Programs

Affordable Housing Development
Common Ground has more than 30 years experience in working with community-based nonprofits to build affordable homes consistent with their missions.  Our housing specialists provide nonprofits with technical know-how, relationships, and project management throughout the long development process.  We assist our clients from concept through occupancy.  Our housing developments are as diverse as our clients, including multi-family rental properties, as well as single-family homes for ownership.

Low-Income Housing Preservation
Common Ground does more than build new affordable homes.  We also assist nonprofit agencies in maintaining their current affordable housing stock by providing inspection and analysis services.  This enables housing providers to plan for facilities that will be healthy and sustainable over the long haul.  We have helped organizations adequately prepare so they may continue to provide affordable homes for the next generation of those in need of housing.

Nonprofit Facilities Development
Common Ground believes home is more than just four walls and a door.  We are also committed to building community facilities that strengthen neighborhoods and improve the quality of life of nearby residents. Since 1980, we’ve partnered with over 300 local organizations on more than 100 real estate projects.  We have helped create community centers, neighborhood healthcare clinics, nonprofit office spaces and more.

Our low-income housing partners include:
Bremerton Housing Authority
Community Psychiatric Clinic
Compass Housing Alliance
Downtown Emergency Service Center
Friends of Youth
Homeless Network of Yakima County
Imagine Housing (formerly St. Andrew's Housing Group)
Korean Women’s Association
ROOTS Young Adult Shelter
Solid Ground
And many more!

Recent Successes and Current Challenges

Common Ground assisted eight affordable housing organizations in receiving substantial awards from the State of Washington Housing Trust Fund.  Early this year, the Washington State Department of Commerce announced their Housing Trust Fund (HTF) awards for affordable housing and home ownership projects.  Eight Common Ground partnerships were awarded a grand total of $10,563,923.  The funding will ultimately lead to 281 additional units of low-income housing from here in the Puget Sound to as far east as Omak.  These projects will provide homes for a variety of communities, from homeless youths to seniors to low-income folks with chronic mental illness.

The housing organizations we assisted in the application process include:

DESC
Friends of Youth
Imagine Housing
Housing Authority of Island County
Mason County Shelter
Navos
Pine Meadows Senior Housing
Providence Health and Services

Your contribution will allow us to serve small to medium-sized nonprofits that couldn't otherwise afford the consulting services required to develop and build affordable housing.  Especially in these difficult economic times, there is a tremendous need for  housing in urban and rural areas.  Many smaller nonprofits with the will to build such housing do not have the expertise to develop it.  Your contribution to Common Ground will allow us to perform targeted outreach and help us efficiently maximize our services for these organizations.  Needs are particularly high in this time of financial turmoil, yet government resources for housing and supportive services are scarce.  Your  contribution is therefore all the more critical.

Evaluation


Common Ground provides expertise, technical assistance and project management to other nonprofits to create affordable housing.

Proven Success
Common Ground is known for their expertise and commitment to creating permanent supportive housing. Most recently they helped Solid Ground develop Brettler Family Place, which provides permanent housing and supportive services for 51 formerly homeless families. This project exemplifies many of their values; eco-friendly design, serving multiple families and working in collaboration with a community-based nonprofit.

They are looking to improve their pipeline of projects and are exploring the opportunities with transit oriented development and working with Sound Transit. In this environment they are seeking a mixture of responding to requests for services and assembling partnerships to build housing.

Collaboration
Their business model is based on working with others to accomplish their mission. In 2011 five Common Ground housing developments have opened, resulting in 181 new affordable housing units. They anticipate opening five more developments prior to the end of the year, resulting in a total of 364 additional homes. They work with DESC, Solid Ground, Compass, YWCA, Imagine Housing, and Transitional Resources.

Sustainability
Under new leadership since the fall of 2010 Common Ground is developing a new culture that reflects new economic realities and needs. They eliminated 10 positions through attrition and layoffs in the last 12 months and closed their Eastern Washington office.

Common Ground is focused on improving the affordable housing system. Traditional government funding sources will be tight for the foreseeable future. They are embarking on a New Housing Models Initiative to identify and test ways to build more housing for less, and modify policies and regulations to further enhance cost-efficiency. They hope to create a set of new and replicable approaches to affordable housing development.

They pay careful attention to maintaining their financial health. Their revenues come primarily from fees. For all of their development projects, payment for Common Ground services is included in the financing their clients receive for the project. They experienced a decrease in fee based revenues beginning in the third quarter of 2008. They have a goal of increasing private fundraising as a percentage of overall revenues but recognize that they are not a direct service provider and have to find a way to share their story that will appeal to donors.

Grant History with The Seattle Foundation:

Grants Awarded through The Seattle Foundation Grantmaking Program:

DateAmountPurpose
9/10/2010 $10,000.00support general operating expenses.
3/10/2008 $25,000.00support general operating expenses.
3/16/2005 $25,000.00support general operating expenses of King County programs.

Financials

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