New Seattle supportive housing now costs about $500,000 per apartment

What this chart asks

What does a new supportive housing apartment in Seattle cost to build, and how does that compare with a typical new apartment or buying an existing building?

Why it is shown this way

• Sorted horizontal bars, one per planned building, so names and years read in full.
• The four buildings planned in 2023-2025 are highlighted; the two earlier plans are gray context that shows costs rising.
• Two benchmark rows: a typical new apartment building and the median King County paid to buy and repair existing Seattle buildings, so each bar is read against the alternatives.
• Bars start at zero.

Chart annotations

These markers provide relevant context for interpreting the chart. Their timing or position does not, by itself, establish causation.

Typical new apartment (2023 est.)

Threshold: 490000

A draft consultant memo for Portland's housing bureau put a generic six-story, 143-unit apartment building in Seattle at nearly $490,000 per unit, with about 700 square feet per unit counting all its space.

Existing buildings bought (median)

Threshold: 330888

Purchase plus repairs to date per unit, median of the six Seattle buildings King County bought for its Health Through Housing program, through 2024.

Data and accessibility

The chart's data and images are in the strip under it.

Dataset seattle-supportive-housing-cost-per-apartment, analysis seattle-planned-by-building

Sources

This chart draws on the sources of the dataset versions it visualizes.

Cost per apartment of supportive housing in Seattle and King County, 2021-2025

1. Washington State Department of Commerce, list of 2021 Housing Trust Fund and Cottage applications Estimated cost and supportive housing units for DESC Greenlake and DESC Woodland (2021)

   Retrieved November 11, 2026. Public record (Washington State government). Figures only; the source file is linked, not hosted

   Reliability: Government. Commerce runs the state Housing Trust Fund and posts every application it receives. Costs are the applicants' own estimates.

2. Washington State Department of Commerce, list of 2022 Housing Trust Fund applications Estimated cost and supportive housing units for DESC 15th Avenue and Plymouth's Kenmore building (2022)

   Retrieved November 11, 2026. Public record (Washington State government). Figures only; the source file is linked, not hosted

   Reliability: Government. Posted by the agency that runs the fund. Costs are the applicants' own estimates.

3. Washington State Department of Commerce, list of 2023 Housing Trust Fund applications Estimated cost for DESC Lake City and DESC Woodland, and for 15 Seattle affordable buildings with no supportive housing (2023)

   Retrieved November 11, 2026. Public record (Washington State government). Figures only; the source file is linked, not hosted

   Reliability: Government. Posted by the agency that runs the fund. The list also gives each project's activity type, such as new construction (NC).

4. Washington State Department of Commerce, 2024 Traditional Housing Trust Fund Applications Received (NOFA #MHU-2024-02), updated 11/08/2024 Anticipated cost and supportive housing units for DESC Belmont, Plymouth's Norkirk and Redmond buildings (2024)

   Retrieved November 11, 2026. Public record (Washington State government). Figures only; the source file is linked, not hosted

   Reliability: Government. Posted by the agency that runs the fund; column 'Anticipated Total Residential Development Costs'.

5. Washington State Department of Commerce, list of 2025 Housing Trust Fund applications Anticipated cost and supportive housing units for Plymouth's Whittier Housing (2025)

   Retrieved November 11, 2026. Public record (Washington State government). Figures only; the source file is linked, not hosted

   Reliability: Government. Posted by the agency that runs the fund. Costs are the applicants' own estimates.

6. Washington State Department of Commerce, 2022 Housing Trust Fund Affordable Housing Cost Data Report Final cost per unit for DESC 22nd Avenue PSH (Seattle) and Kent Permanent Supportive Housing; definition of total residential project cost

   Retrieved November 11, 2026. Public record (Washington State government). Figures only; the source file is linked, not hosted

   Reliability: Government. Required by state law (RCW 43.185A.190). Built from final cost certifications that funded projects submit to Commerce.

7. Washington State Department of Commerce, 2023 Annual Affordable Housing Cost Data Report Final cost per unit and per square foot for four Seattle supportive housing buildings; King County median for all state-funded new buildings

   Retrieved November 11, 2026. Public record (Washington State government). Figures only; the source file is linked, not hosted

   Reliability: Government. Covers projects that submitted final cost data from July 2022 to June 2023. Commerce notes that only 26% of awardees had submitted cost certifications.

8. King County, 2024 Health Through Housing Annual Report (Attachment A to Motion 16910) Per-unit acquisition and rehabilitation cost for each building the county bought, each building's city and status, average capital and operating cost

   Retrieved November 11, 2026. Public record (King County government). Figures only; the source file is linked, not hosted

   Reliability: Government. Has a stake in this finding. Written by the county department that runs the program, for the County Council. Costs are the county's own accounting, not audited figures.

9. BAE Urban Economics for the Portland Housing Bureau, Residential Development Cost Study Summary (January 30, 2024) Estimated full cost per unit of a typical new six-story apartment building in Seattle

   Retrieved November 11, 2026. Public record (City of Portland). Figures only; the source file is linked, not hosted

   Reliability: Other. Consultant study paid for by the City of Portland. Seattle costs come from spring 2023 interviews with developers and contractors plus public and private data, for one typical building design.

Limitations

• Costs are the sponsors' estimates when they applied to the state Housing Trust Fund, not final costs; DESC Woodland's estimate rose 38% between 2021 and 2023.
• Supportive housing apartments are usually small; the typical new building in the benchmark has about 700 square feet per unit counting all its space.
• County purchase costs are life-to-date through 2024 and will rise for buildings still being renovated.
• Nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation.