Common Ground

Mission

Common Ground provides the technical capacity in communities across Washington State to expand the housing affordable to people with low incomes and special needs. We accomplish our mission by partnering with local jurisdictions, housing authorities, and other nonprofit organizations to develop new housing and to preserve existing housing. We have developed over 3500 units of housing. In 2005, we worked on 92 projects. We currently have 630 units of affordable housing in our pipeline.

Programs

Common Ground develops housing for sponsoring organizations; provides technical assistance to strengthen housing organizations' capacity to develop, own, and manage housing; and offers planning and program development services to most effectively use limited public and private housing resources. All of our work is directed toward people below 80% median income with the majority benefiting people below 30% of median income. Common Ground's work supports the creation of both transitional and permanent housing, with many projects offering supportive services to meet the needs of residents. We are involved with housing projects for seniors, farmworkers, Native Americans, people with disabilities, individuals and families who are homeless or low-income, victims of domestic violence, and youth. The types of projects include multi-family rental, single-family rental and homeownership, co-housing, community land trust, live-work housing, assisted living, mixed-use commercial/residential. Our clients are community-based nonprofits, faith-based organizations, local and state governments, public housing authorities, private developers, and banks. Common Ground has three main lines of business all focusing on building and preserving affordable housing. We act as a real estate developer, working with the client from concept to occupancy. This service includes defining new project concepts, identifying appropriate sites, overseeing design professionals, assembling financing, supervising construction, and assisting with project closeout and operational start-up. We also help clients handle a specific aspect or component of a project, such as feasibility analysis, application preparation for financing, or proposal development. Real estate development services accounted for 60% of our work in 2004. We project these services will account for 65% of our work in 2005 and 2006. We work with nonprofit organizations on a broad range of capacity building activities, including Board development, strategic planning, housing needs assessments, and housing strategies. We also help nonprofit organizations analyze and improve their business practices, thereby enhancing their effectiveness, compliance, and operations. These services accounted for 20% of our work in 2004. Common Ground also works with local and tribal governments to develop and implement housing-related projects and programs. Included in these services are housing needs assessments, compliance and monitoring of systems, design of ownership and rental housing programs, and trainings on such topics as public funding options and requirements, consolidated and Continuum of Care planning. These services accounted for 20% of our work in 2004.