Assessment Center Open To Cascade and Senator Residents Wednesday

With a deadline to vacate apartments in the Cascade and Senator buildings set for this Friday, the Yakima County Human Services Department will coordinate with the Northwest Justice Project and other agencies that provide housing assistance to staff an “Assessment Center” on Wednesday, July 10th to help current residents of the buildings find other housing options.

The Assessment Center will be located in the County’s Conference Center (the old Pizza Hut building) at 1st Street and Lincoln Avenue and will be open to current Senator and Cascade residents from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

The City of Yakima has issued an order for the apartments in the two Downtown Yakima buildings to be vacated because numerous fire and life safety code violations first identified in mid-December of last year have not been addressed by the owner of the Cascade and Senator buildings.  The code violations cited by the City include non-functioning fire alarm systems, holes in walls and ceilings, and substandard electrical wiring.

Owners of rental properties in the Yakima area who are interested in providing housing to current residents of the Cascade and Senator buildings are encouraged to list their available units on the free, non-profit housing listing HousingSearchNW.org website or by calling Housing Search Northwest toll free at 1-877-428-8844 for live help with adding and updating listings.

Current residents of the Cascade and Senator buildings can also receive additional information and assistance from CLEAR, a legal advice and referral service operated by the Northwest Justice Project, by calling 1-888-201-1014 or by visiting the local Northwest Justice Project office in Suite 510 in the Larson Building.  Residents of the buildings can also learn more by visiting the washingtonhelp.org website or by calling Yakima Neighborhood Health Services at 249-6232.

Under state law (RCW 59.18.085), the owner of the Cascade and Senator buildings could be required to provide monetary assistance to current residents of the apartments to help them find other housing.

Because code violations were only found in the upper floor apartments, businesses that currently occupy ground floor spaces in the Cascade building are not being required to leave.  No businesses are located on the ground floor of the Senator building.

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Cascade and Senator Apartments Vacations – News Release

Contact: 

Yakima County Human Services Sr. Mgr. Tim Sullivan – 949-1287

Communications & Public Affairs Director Randy Beehler – 901-1142