Redmond Plymouth Housing Homeless Project Key Facts

On January 22, 2024, the Kenmore City Council determined that the Plymouth Supportive Housing project did not meet the city’s goal of providing affordable housing to seniors and veterans in their community and thus rejected it. The City of Kenmore went through an open RFP in February 2022, three public hearings, before making the final decision.

On February 13, 2024, the Redmond City Council approved the transfer of public land to Plymouth Housing, which allowed the Plymouth Supportive Housing project to be relocated to Redmond. The public was not given the opportunity to give public comments before the council cast the vote. The City of Redmond did not go through an open RFP, did not hold any public hearings, did not allow any public input, and rushed the decision in only 22 days.

The city is now withholding critical information and refusing to hold public hearings. Neither the mayor’s office, nor the city council is answering the public’s inquiries. The public has no visibility into the project’s status.

Below are some quick facts based on city’s FAQ and internal communications we obtained via the Public Records Act:

Where: 16725 Cleveland Street, Redmond, across the street from Anderson Park, half a mile away from Redmond Elementary School. The city purchased the land for $5.5 million in 2019.

Building Infrastructure: 5-story, 100-unit. In order to cut costs, Plymouth Housing is proposing very limited parking.

Who will live there?

• Single adults only. Low income families will NOT be eligible;
• Most sex offenders and drug dealers will be eligible;
• Able-bodied drug addicts will be eligible;
• People with mental illnesses will be eligible;
• Homeless people from outside of Redmond will be eligible;
• Most seniors and veterans will NOT be eligible. According to Plymouth Housing’s own data, only 11% of the people they served in 2023 were military service veterans. They did not provide how many seniors they served in 2023;

Will drugs be permitted? Private drug use is permitted. No drug testing will be conducted.

Why the public opposes this project:

• No transparency;
• No public process;
• The city refuses to allow public input;
• No open RFP;
• Plymouth Housing’s bad track record, as captured in Jonathan Choe’s recent documentary;
• The city refuses to have dialogue to address public safety concerns;

The city of Redmond did not answer any of the following concerns reported by neighbors of other homeless facilities:

• Parking: many junk cars, cars not running, cars making lots of noises, cars with expired license plates, occupying the neighborhood. Using the street as a garage, fixing cars;
• Noises: lots of shouting, swearing at night, 2am, 3am… police, ambulance, firetruck…   lots of fighting;
• Drugs: People doing drugs in the public area. Drug dealers come to the neighborhood. Lots of needles in the neighborhood, do drugs on the street;
• Attracting other homeless to the area, seeing increased pitch tents in the area;
• The operator claims anything outside the facility is NOT their responsibility;
• Expelled tenants stayed in the neighborhood, causing problems, and the facility operator refused to take responsibility for expelled tenants;
• Reduced property value;
• Attracting sex workers to the neighborhood, some conducted their businesses in cars. Condoms on the street;
• Garbages, littering, and rats:  garbage was dumped on the street, overflowing and rotting garbage on the street, caused a rat problem;
• Graffitis on the side of houses;
• Assaults: assaulting people on the streets, verbally abusing people, using words inappropriate for kids in the neighborhood;
• Asking people for money and cigarettes;
• People have to take photos, videos as proofs before their complaints can be taken seriously; 
• Vandalizing of local businesses;
• People had to invest in security, people had to put on extra locks;
• Short staffed;

Questions that the city council and mayor’s office refuse to answer:

• Who will approve the following city zoning code required documents?
  • Operational Agreement
  • Program Rules and/or Code of Conduct 
  • Safety and Security Plan
  • Community Relations Plan
  • Parking management plan
• What is the status of the land transfer? 
• What is the status of the covenants? Has it been drafted? Has it been signed?
• What is the status of the Plymouth Conceptual Plan? Has the city received their submission?
• Other than the Conceptual Plan and the covenants, what else needs to be in place before the land transfer takes place?
• What is the status of Plymouth’s Site Plan Entitlement submission? Has the city received their submission?

Our Facts Page provides evidence that opposes the misleading or inaccurate details presented by the city.

The Redmond Plymouth Permanent Supportive Housing project is an inside job.

Redmond City Council struggles to provide legal justification for giving away public land to Plymouth Housing.