Supportive Housing

New studio apartment with light-colored wood cabinets, white stove and refrigerator, white and gray checkerboard flooring and a bed with red and white wavy stripe bedding.

To DESC, supportive housing means much more than a building with services. The design of the facility, staffing patterns, program values and ways of interacting with residents all combine to create a program that helps people succeed over the long term.

Most DESC housing residents live with challenges that would seem overwhelming or insurmountable to the average person: mental illness, substance use disorders, physical or developmental disabilities and extreme poverty. In order to increase their opportunities for success, residents in each of our housing sites have consistent access to supportive services such as:

  • State-licensed mental health and substance use disorder treatment
  • Onsite health care services
  • Daily meals and weekly outings to food banks
  • Case management and payee services
  • Medication monitoring
  • Weekly community-building activities

Learn more about Housing First here.

DESC Housing

DESC entered the supportive housing arena in 1994 with the opening of The Union, a 52-unit building located in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle. This project marked the expansion of our mission from managing homelessness to actually ending the homelessness of our community’s most vulnerable people. Today, DESC owns and manages 2,182 units of supportive housing throughout Seattle and provides permanent supportive housing services to another 150 apartments in Keys to Home.

DESC Supportive Housing is built upon the Housing First Philosophy.

On hold:

Current Supportive Housing

  1. 1811 Eastlake
  2. Aurora House
  3. Birch Grove
  4. Bloomside
  5. Burbridge Place
  6. Canaday House
  7. Clement Place
  8. Clover Place
  9. Cottage Grove Commons
  10. The Estelle
  11. Evans House
  12. Hobson Place, Phase 1 and Hobson Place, Phase 2
  13. Interbay Place
  14. Kerner-Scott House
  15. Keys to Home
  16. Lyon Building
  17. The Morrison
  18. The North Star
  19. Rainier House
  20. Steven’s Place
  21. Scattered sites
  22. The Union Hotel

Scattered Site Housing: Our case managers use DESC housing subsidies to place their clients into rental properties throughout Seattle. What makes this model work is the integration of DESC’s case management services to provide the necessary support for people to succeed and stabilize.

Housing placement

Coordinated Entry for All (CEA)

DESC Permanent Supportive Housing units are managed through Coordinated Entry for All, administered by the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA). This system uses an assessment tool called the “Housing Triage Tool” or VI-SPDAT to prioritize and match homeless households to vacant units. Read more about the process here→.