Sound Families has completed its final funding round and will no longer accept applications.

The Sound Families Initiative was made possible by a $40 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for housing and support services for homeless families in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties. The program anticipates funding a portion of capital costs and a portion of service costs for the first five years of project operations.

Project proposals from experienced housing and service providers will be selected to use available funding to develop, manage and own low-income housing for families in transition out of homelessness- households containing one or more adults and one or more children. Proposed housing must contain units suitable for families and be enriched with family stabilization services.

To be considered, applicants must have experience in developing, owning and managing housing for families with children, as well as providing stabilization services for families in crisis. Existing nonprofit housing development agencies are encouraged to form partnerships with service providers to propose housing with supportive services for families.

Application Packet Includes:

     1.  Application Cover Sheet
     2.  Sound Families Introduction
     3.  Common State Application

Note: If you are applying for services-only funding contact Alice Shobe to discuss appropriate application format.

Please submit one original hardcopy of the application, one complete copy in a three ringed binder, and one electronic version on a CD (pdf format preferred).                                                                                         

Sound Families Initiative 
c/o City of Seattle Office of Housing
PO Box 94725,  
Seattle, WA  98124-4725                                                                                                                          

Hand deliver: Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 Fifth Ave., #5700

All potential applicants are asked to contact Alice Shobe, director of Sound Families, in advance of submitting an application to discuss projects.

Contact Alice Shobe at alice.shobe@seattle.gov or by phone (206) 233-7088.