Yes. According to the National Community Survey, Bainbridge Island scored in the bottom 3% of the national benchmark for availability of affordable housing. Compared to Kitsap County where 32% of households rent; Bainbridge has far fewer homes where only 19% of households rent. In 2024 the average asking rent for a 2-bedroom apartment was $2,800, and in Washington State someone would need to earn $40.32/hour for a standard 2-bedroom apartment.

High housing costs, property taxes, and a limited range of housing types have greatly constrained who can reside on Bainbridge Island. This undercuts the economic health of the community, limits who can access its excellent schools and facilities, and threatens the viability of local businesses by limiting their available workforce. A staggering 79% of surveyed workers on Bainbridge Island do not live here, but would if they could afford to do so. Only 3% of the over 11,000 housing units on the Island are considered affordable or income-restricted.

No, this project is not “homeless housing”. The housing will be affordable to working people or income qualified seniors, where half the units will be eligible for someone earning up to 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI), and the other half up to 60% AMI. Households will need to verify their income is 2.5X higher than the rent to qualify to live here.

Generally speaking, workers that would qualify based on their income levels would include grocery clerks, bakery managers, optometric technicians, healthcare managers, cooks, landscapers, restaurant waitstaff, or carpenters.

If an existing tenant gets a pay raise that is above the 60% AMI income limit they can not be required to move out.

The Area Median Income (AMI) is set by HUD using local income data; Bainbridge Island falls under the Bremerton-Silverdale/Kitsap County Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2025 according to HUD 100% of the Area Median Income on Bainbridge is $124,300 per year for a four-person household.

This project would provide housing for people earning up to 50% or 60% of the Area Median Income, based on how many live in the household.

No. This project provides housing for households that meet the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) financial criteria for housing at 50% or 60% of the Area Median Income. In addition to the above, the project will carry a private loan from a bank that will require debt service. For the project to maintain solvency, we will need rents at the levels we have committed to above. The current proposal requires half of the units to be designated for households earning 50% AMI, and the other half 60% AMI.

In other words, if we move in homeless households with zero or very low-income into units meant for someone earning up to 50% AMI ($43,550/year), the building would default on its loans and be out of compliance with the tax credit program which is highly regulated.

No. The City of Bainbridge Island will continue to own the land even after the project is built. This will guarantee the City has ultimate control on how the land is used in the long term, and ensure the building operator is fulfilling all of its obligations.

The City selected the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) through a competitive bid to develop the property out of six other developers who applied. By having the City retain land ownership it will significantly reduce the overall cost for the project and provide the most effective use of taxpayer dollars to develop the site into affordable housing.

Yes. There has been a Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment Study and Geotechnical Report. The conclusions of the report were positive and no concerns were raised. Specifically, the study found that there was no groundwater seepage on the site and a standard foundation for the building can be used without any piles in the ground. As the project continues to progress through the permitting process, an additional State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review will be required before the project can move forward.

Yes. The City of Bainbridge Island hired Heath & Associates in August 2024 to perform a traffic impact analysis on 625 Winslow Way to determine the impact of adding 100 residential units to the site – more units than is currently proposed. The consultant produced an 86-page report and found that impacts to level of services at key intersections range from under 3 seconds to a fraction of a second – in other words, no substantial impact on traffic wait times.

In particular, the study found that during the Peak Ferry Hours 7-8 am and 4-5 pm where traffic surges and creates momentary higher delays, the intersection will still operate within its capacity with the addition of 100 housing units.

It should also be noted that traffic peaks during commuting hours – however, the purpose of the building is for workers in downtown Winslow to be able to walk to their jobs, meaning they would not be adding to traffic congestion at peak hours.

Traffic Impact Analysis below

The City will have to make some decisions regarding the parking for the property. The City is considering requirements for a 1:1 ratio for each unit to have a parking spot, plus guest and commercial parking. This would add $2 million to construction costs, and require a large garage to be built.

However, there are a number of parking mitigation options that would avoid the need for a large and expensive parking garage. This can include an onsite carshare program that could count toward 3-4 housing units who would share a rented vehicle (like Zev, or Zipcar), and thus reduce the number of parking spots needed, or relaxing guest parking requirements, and allowing a few parking permits for resident use in the existing parking lot that is adjacent to the building.

The City also has the option to reduce the parking standard from 1 space to 0.5 spaces per unit, which is the standard slightly larger cities are required to use across Washington State (SB 5184).

Currently the City is considering reducing the total affordable housing units from 90 units, to 72 units, rather than relaxing the parking requirements. By removing these housing units from the project, fewer parking spots would be required.

The City’s financial analysis found that even if it sold the land and used its revenue to build affordable housing somewhere else, it would still net fewer affordable units than the current proposal. This is due to the high cost of land on Bainbridge Island. Because the City is retaining ownership of the land it dramatically reduces development costs.

In addition, we will be competing statewide for limited Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) dollars to finance the project. Given the proximity to public transit, employers, and schools, as well as the optimal scale feasible for the site, this location is the most competitive for a successful funding application.

Please see the City of Bainbridge one-pager below for more information.

In total the City has held approximately 20 meetings open for public comment or community input, starting in 2022. The City has commissioned impact studies, including a site analysis by ECONorthwest that was presented to the Council on November 8th, 2022. The Council approved permits to clear the existing site in 2023, and conducted a financial feasibility study for developing affordable housing on the site in 2024.

On April 15th, 2024, the City held a community Questions & Answer session to educate the public on the project and to seek community input. The City made available its commissioned Traffic Impact Analysis in August 2024.

On May 29th, 2025 LIHI hosted a Community Listening Session at Bainbridge Performing Arts and presented the 625 Winslow Way E. development. There were two weeks of engagement prior to this Community Listening Session to the businesses along Winslow Way and High School Road NE. Attendees were given an opportunity to share comments and ask questions.

There will be additional opportunities as LIHI will convene another Community Listening Session, and there are future meetings with public comment at the Planning Commission and City Council to ensure the proposal reflects community input.

If the City chooses a 90-unit building it will be 45 feet tall if standing from Winslow Way E, shorter than the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art across the intersection. The building will have 4 stories total, with the ground floor for commercial or community space. Given the slope of the property, the building will appear higher from Olympic Drive, where there is a public plaza being planned.

The design of the building has been intentionally left incomplete, because we are still collecting community feedback to ensure the building design reflects local preferences and the existing neighborhood aesthetic. As future community listening sessions are announced, we will continue to refine the design and explore possibilities before final decisions are made.

LIHI as a developer prioritizes community input into the design of its buildings and makes it a point to elevate neighborhood feedback in the design process. The public will have many opportunities to provide direct feedback to LIHI as the developer, as well as to the Planning Commission, the Design Review Board, and directly to the City Council.

At a basic level the building will be either three or four stories, or 45 feet tall at its tallest. The land slopes down Olympic Drive, which will have green space and garden areas. The ground floor will have commercial or community space, including a "jewel box" element, that will be carved out of the corner to reduce the building's scale and complement the adjacent Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.

No. It is important to understand that the state Housing Trust Fund requires a restrictive covenant for a minimum of 40 years that controls income affordability, regardless of who owns the land. In addition to that, the City of Bainbridge Island included a requirement that the property remain affordable for at least 75 years and at most 99 years, adding even more protections for the extended use of the land as affordable housing. Therefore even if the building did change hands, it could only be operated as affordable housing during that time.

Additionally, the City of Bainbridge Island will still own the land and have control of the property through a long term ground lease.

No. LIHI was mentioned in a recent Seattle Times article that was broadly about Seattle non-profits selling their properties because of financial problems, however this did not apply to LIHI as we have not sold off any of our multifamily buildings.

What the story does mention is our sale of two single family homes to another non-profit, the YMCA. The sale did not occur because of financial instability, rather, LIHI sold the houses to the YMCA to support their goal to expand their U-District branch to offer more indoor recreation to the community. This arrangement was reached with the former Seattle Mayor to help the Y build out a full court gym and/or indoor pool, as well as provide affordable housing.

LIHI replaced the housing at a new building so no low income units were lost. We successfully relocated the existing residents into other affordable housing; no one lost their housing. The sale was not a sign of distress, but a strategic decision to let go of older less efficient buildings and reinvest in more impactful housing opportunities.

No. LIHI is in strong financial health and is in an excellent position to develop 625 Winslow Way. We consistently operate in the black, maintain solid cash reserves, and year after year have positive revenue.

Today LIHI owns and operates more than 80 properties with over 3,600 units across the Puget Sound region. For all of LIHI’s multifamily housing we have consistently met each loan obligation and paid our lenders on time for each property, despite the challenging market and regulatory conditions that are unique to the City of Seattle. We have never defaulted on a loan.

The recent sale of two single family homes reported in the Seattle Times was not a sign of distress, but a strategic decision to let go of older less efficient buildings. The small property sales have actually strengthened our portfolio and allowed us to add new, larger buildings that meet today’s needs.

See the earlier question regarding LIHI selling houses to the YMCA to learn more why this is not a concern.

No, because the City of Bainbridge Island owns the land. Because the land is publicly owned, it means that building affordable housing on the site is significantly more cost effective than buying privately owned land somewhere else. The cost of land is one of the main drivers of a development budget, so it is a huge advantage to have the City retain ownership. In fact, the City conducted a financial analysis and found that even if it sold the land and used its revenue to build affordable housing somewhere else, it would still net fewer affordable units than the current proposal.

This building alone will not exhaust the island’s water supply. However, there are two dimensions to this answer - one is water conservation, and one is water supply.

On the conservation side, the apartment building will be designed to Washington State sustainable development standards for affordable housing known as Evergreen Sustainable Development Standards (ESDS). This will include measures to encourage water conservation like low-flow faucets, toilets, showers; minimizing distance from fixtures to hot water sources to reduce water waste waiting for hot water; and submetering water usage to alert building operations staff of unusually high water consumption due to leaks or high tenant usage. ESDS requires WaterSense fixtures, which according to the EPA generally result in a 20-30% reduction in water usage.

On the supply side, the project will undergo SEPA review which will comprehensively evaluate the proposal’s impact to the community water supply and determine whether there are significant impacts. This SEPA review will occur with the Site Plan Review application and there will also be opportunity for public comment on the SEPA review. The city is already taking future growth measures to insure capacity. Within the Comprehensive Plan, the City of Bainbridge Island is implementing planned water system improvements. The upgrades in 2024 have replaced two existing water storage tanks and the Winslow Water Tank project will provide capacity for an increased population of approximately 6,600. All work is planned from 2024 till 2027.

LIHI will use an affirmative marketing plan to advertise the units at 625 Winslow Way starting first with employers whose businesses are on the island. LIHI has already engaged with leaders within the Bainbridge Chamber of Commerce, Bainbridge Island Downtown Association, as well as UFCW 3000 which is the union that represents workers at the local Town & Country Market and Safeway. With early engagement with workers in downtown Winslow we can pre-lease apartments to make sure Bainbridge workers are prioritized for this housing. Some have asked if LIHI can limit applications by geography, however under Fair Housing laws housing providers may face legal liabilities with categorical denials based on geography. Using an affirmative marketing plan is the best practice, and is a very effective method.