Thrive International teams with Spokane Public Library to create affordable housing
A partnership between the Spokane Public Library and Thrive International is expected to bring more affordable housing to northeast Spokane by 2025.
At least 45 affordable housing units are coming to 6980 N. Nevada St., a property owned by the library that has sat empty for more than 25 years, according to a news release.
The property will be developed by Thrive International, an organization that provides transitional housing to refugee and immigrant families. Half of the apartments will be reserved for refugees, while the other half will be open to the general public.
Not only will the area get an increase in housing, but the property will have a public learning space run by the library, a playground, a greenhouse, garden beds and a 24/7 library kiosk, for books and library materials available outside of the main location.
Mark Finney, executive director at Thrive International, said Thrive approached the library last summer and explained how the organization was looking for land to expand operations and build more apartments for refugees.
“We said, ‘Well, if you let us build apartments on (the land), then we will put in that community room,’ you know 1,500 square feet or so that the library can use for programming,” he said, adding that the library “loved the idea.”
The Library Board of Trustees approved that idea during Tuesday’s meeting and voted to sell the Nevada Street property to Thrive in exchange for a no-cost 50-year lease of the community space, garden and library kiosk.
The library-run amenities will be funded using bond dollars from the voter-approved $77 million library bond in 2018, so Spokane residents shouldn’t worry about seeing new or increased taxes, said Andrew Chanse, executive director of the Spokane Public Library. The rest of the development will be funded by Thrive.
The northeast property will also will focus on “self-sufficiency and permanent housing,” Finney said in the news release, with onsite health care services, job training and language classes coordinated by Thrive.
“By serving refugees, we can really embody that mission of being a community of learning, celebrating diversity and becoming even more of a platform and partner in the community,” Chanse said in an interview.
He noted how the greenhouse and community garden aspect of the development could help refugees feel more at home by growing spices or foods from their home countries that they might not be able to find in nearby stores.
Finney echoed these remarks and said the partnership sets a precedent in the community that could be replicated and has the potential to open up new affordable housing possibilities.
Library trustees agreed to sell the land to Thrive for just $10 in exchange for the no-cost 50-year lease, Chanse said.
The city library system purchased the 1.6-acre parcel in 1998 for about $272,000 in hopes of creating a new branch that never was built.
The property has been for sale for 10 years and hasn’t interested many buyers because there’s a sewer pipe running down the middle of the lot, Chanse said.
The upcoming development marks Thrive’s second venture into refugee housing in Spokane. The Thrive Center, situated at the former Quality Inn, 10 E. Fourth Ave., offers transitional housing for refugee families. Nearly 95% of those are Ukrainian families displaced by the ongoing Russian conflict, Finney said in a previous interview.
The new development is propelled by Courage Housing, a local investment firm that promotes refugees and that’s supporting financing, according to the release. Initial site improvements are slated to begin in the spring, with groundbreaking anticipated in late 2024. The official opening is expected in 2025.