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Spreading the Word About an Affordable Housing Success
Featured image: EIHF and credit union partners at the Copper Way project groundbreaking in Spanaway, Washington. © Original Studios
Overview
The Evergreen Impact Housing Fund (EIHF) is an innovative funding intervention that ensures housing options for working families in Washington State. Targeting the persistent gap in affordable housing funding, EIHF makes it possible to finance more housing more efficiently. EIHF is managed by the Seattle Foundation and has collaborated with Microsoft and five area credit unions to fund large-scale housing projects. EIHF aims to provide homes for 8,500 people with modest incomes by 2028.
Challenge
With an urgent need for affordable housing in the Puget Sound region and beyond, EIHF was faced with the challenge of communicating its unique funding solution to the public. Leaders of the Fund were eager to highlight an important social impact opportunity for investors. EIHF also wanted to emphasize that they work alongside public funding to ensure those critical resources can be stretched to build as much housing as possible.
Work
Over the course of the past three years, Minerva has tracked the evolution of EIHF, mapping and communicating about milestones in the Fund’s development. EIHF’s first major “moment” happened in late 2021 with the financial closing and groundbreaking of its first project. The Solera development in Renton is funded by five Washington State credit unions and includes 275 units of affordable housing. To get the word out about the project, we began crafting a plan of action:
- Minerva developed a communications plan to share the unique role of the credit unions, EIHF, and the closing of the project itself.
- Minerva coordinated with multiple stakeholders—EIHF, the five credit unions, and the property developer DevCo—to create a joint press release about Solera. Minerva disseminated this release to a curated media list and reached out to select reporters to attend the groundbreaking ceremony.
- To aid in the credit unions’ collaborative communication efforts, Minerva provided content to share the news of Solera’s financing. This included a social media toolkit, newsletter blurbs, one-pager, and an FAQ to equip all stakeholders with talking points.
Result
In celebration of construction beginning on the project, EIHF, the credit unions, and DevCo came together for a groundbreaking event. Attendees included Renton city officials and community leaders in the affordable housing space. The event was a major success. Solera’s financing was covered extensively in the media, including in The Puget Sound Business Journal, The Renton Reporter, The Registry, 425 Business, and CreditUnions.com.
Since the opening of Solera, Minerva has worked with EIHF and its partners to announce four additional projects and tell the story of EIHF’s ongoing evolution. Our efforts have resulted in media stories from The Issaquah Reporter, The Tacoma News Tribune, and Tacoma Weekly. Minerva also contributed to a multimedia project with Filene Research Institute highlighting credit union collaboration through EIHF.
In early 2024, EIHF celebrated the opening of its first two projects to residents, bringing a combined 345 affordable units to King County. News of EIHF’s first project opening aired on KOMO-4 News, and EIHF has since been featured in publications like Kirkland Lifestyle Magazine, Next City, and Connect Commercial Real Estate. We are proud of the work EIHF is doing and deeply honored to continue sharing these affordable housing successes with communities in the Puget Sound—and beyond.
Featured image: EIHF and credit union partners at the Copper Way project groundbreaking in Spanaway, Washington. © Original Studios