Homestead Community Land Trust, Renton Housing Authority’s developer partner for the Sunset Area Transformation Plan, was awarded a $500,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase Foundation.

Homestead will receive the grant over the course of three years and it will be used to create 12 units of affordable housing.

JPMorgan Chase had a special presentation at the Feb. 13 Renton City Council meeting, where JPMorgan’s Regional Philanthropy Manager Cat Martin said the grant is “building on the city of Renton’s investment on transportation and infrastructure.”

“This grant will help attract workforce families to thrive in a neighborhood with strong schools, support services and affordable rent,” Martin added.

“This very generous gift from JPMorgan Chase Foundation will support the transformation of the Sunset area to a healthy, equitable and inclusive community where families of all income levels will experience quality of life and access to the wealth-building potential and other benefits of affordable home ownership,” said Kathleen Hosfeld, executive director of Homestead.

The Sunset Area Transformation Plan is a revitalization effort to leverage public investment to catalyze private property development and create opportunities for market-rate, affordable housing and retail investment. The 269-acre neighborhood that acts as a gateway to the Highlands area was established in the early 1940s as a project to provide temporary housing for World War II workers.

The transformation plan begins with replacing the 100-unit Sunset Terrace public housing with high-density, sustainable housing that will be a catalyst for new private housing and business investment opportunities.

“Renton Housing Authority built more than 3,000 units of temporary duplex housing for working families who supported the WWII effort,” said Mark Gropper, executive director of the Renton Housing Authority in a press release. “Many of these units in the Sunset neighborhood remain today, as rental units. To develop an affordable home-ownership program in this neighborhood, is to build a new legacy of community investment and self-sufficiency for eligible families”

Currently, nearly 27 percent of the households in the area live in poverty, and the crime rate is 2.5 times higher than the city as a whole. About 75 percent of students in the neighborhood elementary school qualifies for free or reduced lunch and 35 percent of the students have limited English.

The city aims to transform the Sunset area into a destination spot, as well as make the neighborhood feel safe, increase business investments and create housing affordable. So far, the city has been able to work with their partners to relocate the Highlands Library, construct of the Meadow Crest Early Learning Center and Accessible Playground, and the start construction of market-rate housing with the help of Colpitts Development.