Bellwether Housing

We envision diverse communities where people of all incomes and backgrounds share in the opportunity and prosperity of our region. To bring our vision to fruition, Bellwether Housing develops new affordable housing communities in locations that give our residents easy access to jobs, schools, transit, and services. We maintain our existing homes to the highest standards so that residents have homes they feel good about. We bring innovation and collaboration to our work to make housing accessible to the increasing number of people who cannot afford it.

At Bellwether, we believe that affordable housing shouldn't be regarded as a charitable gift to a few poor families, but rather should be treated as an essential public good that makes entire communities stronger. Affordable housing benefits individual households by closing the gap between income and rent, allowing families to have enough for childcare, medical needs, and education. When people live near work, school, and services, they can invest more time and resources in themselves, their families, and their communities and whole communities grow stronger. Affordable housing also promotes diverse, interesting neighborhoods where people of all backgrounds feel welcomed.

With the need for affordable housing more pressing and ubiquitous than ever, Bellwether Housing is undertaking a record level of development. This year we opened 204 new affordable apartments in Seattle neighborhoods with easy access to jobs, transit, and services. Over the next five years, we will add approximately 1200 units to our portfolio, all of them in transit oriented locations and with up to 30% of the units large enough for families. As we embark on this ambitious development plan, Bellwether will launch a new impact investment fund, allowing private investors to help us deliver this much needed public good.

Bellwether Housing develops and manages affordable homes that put our residents in proximity to transit, jobs, and education. We strive to create diverse communities where people of all incomes and backgrounds share in the opportunity and prosperity of the Puget Sound region. Bellwether serves the broad spectrum of people in need of affordable housing: families exiting homelessness, independent seniors, adults with disabilities, immigrants seeking opportunity, and young people just starting out. Within in-house real estate development, property management, compliance, maintenance, resident services, and asset management departments, Bellwether creates and maintains affordable housing that people want to call home. We work collaboratively – between departments, with partner organizations, and across sectors – to find new and more effective ways to achieve our mission, from impact investing to green building to co-developing with other non-profits to build to scale. We work ambitiously and with an urgency that matches our region's affordable housing crisis.

Bellwether's success is evidenced both by our stability and the way we are scaling up to match our community's need. Bellwether currently manages 2,100 affordable apartments, which see annual turnover of just 12%. We have grown our portfolio more rapidly in the past five years than ever before and will continue to ambitiously scale up by adding 1,200 units by 2023. Bellwether was the first nonprofit housing provider in the country to raise its own local, socially-motivated private capital to invest directly in the development of our projects. The $4 million we raised in impact funds filled funding gaps and allowed us to create homes in two amenity and opportunity rich Seattle neighborhoods.