The Washington State Department of Ecology is currently accepting applications for its new Affordable Housing Cleanup Grant Program.
Donor Name: Washington State Department of Ecology
State: Washington
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 03/01/2022
Details:
This innovative program will provide planning and cleanup grants for contaminated sites intended for affordable housing development. The program will support communities by:
- Cleaning up environmental contamination for residential use.
- Providing meaningful community engagement that informs and shapes decisions throughout the cleanup process.
- Integrating longer-term goals of shared economic and community asset building across a diverse population.
Their competitive grant program reflects Ecology’s commitment to environmental justice by investing in direct community benefits. These investments help reduce gentrification and displacement of low-income communities that often follow cleanup activities and redevelopment.
Types of Grants
There are two types of grants:
- Planning: Provides seed money to prospective purchasers or property owners to help answer early questions about the potential contamination risk of a property proposed for development into affordable housing. Funded activities can include environmental assessments or outreach to the community. A solicitation for these grants will occur in 2023.
- Cleanup: Provides cleanup funding after the site is under a formal agreement with Ecology.
Project Criteria
- Meets affordable housing definition and includes a minimum of 20% affordable housing in the proposed redevelopment.
- Retains affordable housing for 30 years through property restrictions that will be tracked.
- Proposes to fully clean up a contaminated site within an incorporated city, town, or urban growth area owned or planned to be owned, by the applicant.
Eligibility Criteria
Any person or organization planning to clean up a contaminated site for redevelopment into affordable housing can apply for a grant.
For more information, visit Affordable Housing Cleanup Grant Program.