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U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA) heard from Habitat for Humanity of Snohomish County Thursday about the organization’s latest plan to build more affordable housing in Lynnwood.
The plan involves building Willow Path Cottages in the vicinity of 7500 196th St. S.W. The eight-home cottage housing community will have four single-family, three-bedroom units and four duplex, two-bedroom units. They will range between 650-900 square feet.
Willow Path will also have a central lawn and concrete walking path, the My Neighborhood News Group (MNNG) reported in March. Construction is expected to begin sometime late summer and finish by December 2027.
“Willow Path Cottages will make homeownership more affordable in Lynnwood and I’m glad HFHSC is doing this important work,” Larsen told the MNNG. “Federal funding is critical for local housing organizations like HFHSC, and I will keep fighting in Congress for money to build homes in our communities and bring down the cost of housing in Northwest Washington.”
Habitat Snohomish Executive Director Steven Li told Larsen Thursday that the organization has been building single-family homes, one at a time, for the past 35 years, and that it is becoming harder to do so.
“We’ve been trying to figure out how we evolve … in this new housing and funding landscape where everything is expensive from land to labor to materials,” Li said.
Willow Path is Habitat Snohomish’s first time building a dense, multi-unit housing. Li said the organization has built multiple units in the past, but it involved subdividing land into single-family units.
“This is our first opportunity to explore what community housing looks like,” Li said.
Former 32nd District State Rep. Ruth Kagi and her family donated the half-acre property that Willow Path will be built on. They had been looking to build affordable housing on the unused parcel but could not find the right partnership until Habitat Snohomish reached out, Li said.
“The idea of cottage housing aligned with her goals of building housing for the community, but also fell very much in line with where we were headed as an organization,” Li said.
Angelica Relente is a Murrow News Fellow covering housing and related issues in South Snohomish County for the My Neighborhood News Group. Contact her at [email protected].
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