The Aventine Apartments in downtown Bellevue are owned by the Seattle-based Low Income Housing Institute, which received a grant from Beneficial State Bank to help preserve affordable housing in the region. The Aventine Apartments earlier this year were recognized for cooperation between multiple agencies and companies to preserve affordable housing there, where rents are more than $1,000 per month below market rate.
A California bank last week announced $850,000 in grants to 17 affordable-housing developers, supporting the preservation of 1,271 affordable-housing units across California, Oregon, and Washington.
Oakland-based Beneficial State Bank’s 2025 Affordable Housing Preservation Grant Program provides flexible capital to deed-restricted multifamily properties serving low-income communities.
Five Washington-based affordable housing developers — Seattle-based Bellwether Housing, Low Income Housing Institute, and Mercy Housing Northwest, plus Everett-based Housing Authority of Snohomish County and Housing Hope — received grants totaling more than $261,000, two-thirds of which is supporting properties in Seattle, according to an email from a bank representative. Funds will help preserve 391 affordable-housing units in Washington, ensuring continued access to stable, affordable homes for residents, the email said.
“As the housing affordability crisis becomes more acute across the West Coast, preserving existing affordable units is just as critical as building new ones,” Randell Leach, CEO of Beneficial State Bank, said in a news release. “We’re proud to offer these grants for the first time to developers who are committed to maintaining quality affordable housing for the long term. This program is a living example of how banks can play a critical role in solving the housing crisis.”
The Seattle-based organizations receiving grants have been active on the Eastside.
Earlier this year, the Aventine Apartments in Bellevue, owned by the Low-Income Housing Institute, were recognized for cooperation between multiple agencies and companies to preserve affordable housing there, where rents are more than $1,000 per month below market rate.
Earlier this month, Bellwether Housing was chosen by the city of Bellevue to develop affordable housing and community space on city-owned land in the Wilburton Transit-Oriented Development District near Sound Transit’s 2 Line light rail. Bellwether will deliver at least 127 affordable homes, including family-size units, serving households earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income.
Beneficial State Bank’s grants, ranging up to $100,000 per organization, can be used for a variety of property improvements, including solar-panel installation, landscaping, painting, general maintenance, and replenishing reserve account, the bank said. Recipients include both nonprofit and for-profit developers operating deed-restricted properties with at least 10 years of remaining affordability requirements.
The grants specifically target properties serving households earning 50% or less of area median income, with preference given to projects in Community Development Financial Institution-designated areas of economic distress or high opportunity areas. Preserving aging multifamily housing is a fast, cost-effective way to expand affordable housing, yet many properties fall into disrepair due to limited financing, the bank said in its release.
“We understand the complexities of affordable housing preservation,” Grant Word, executive vice president and director of commercial and business banking at Beneficial, said in a statement. “By providing patient, flexible capital with straightforward reporting requirements, we’re helping property owners focus on what matters most: maintaining quality, affordable homes for their residents.”
The bank’s Affordable Housing Preservation Grant Program builds on Beneficial’s existing affordable-housing portfolio. At year end 2024, the bank held $150 million in outstanding affordable-housing loans, supporting 657 new units during the year with 84% of those new units deed-restricted for long-term affordability, it said. Since its 2007 founding, the bank has financed more than 17,143 housing units across its three-state footprint.
Beneficial is one of 16 B Corp banks in the country according to its 2024 Impact Report, which showed the bank with almost $2 billion in assets. A for-profit bank, its economic rights are majority-owned by the nonprofit Beneficial State Foundation, which is governed in the public interest. That ownership, according to the bank, allows it to maintain a model for banking that generates benefits for people and the planet while being financially safe and sound.