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Nearly a billion dollars. That's how much money Washington state has spent over the past 20 years to build low-income housing across the state. These projects house homeless families, the elderly and disabled, migrant farm workers and other low-income Washingtonians.

But now many of these subsidized rental properties are aging and in need of major overhauls. The problem is there's no money to preserve them.

The Josephinum is a 14-story, tan brick building a few blocks from the Pike Place Market. It was once a fancy hotel. Legend has it Elvis Presley stayed here.

But Elvis has long since left the building. Today its 221 rooms are home to the down and out.

Austin Jenkins / Northwest News Network

Josephinum resident Michael Ghebre sits outside the building In downtown Seattle

People like Michael Ghebre who just moved in after years of homelessness and drug addiction.

Michael Ghebre: "Dying in the street. Smoking crack for 15 years. I'm clean four years and a half. What I need now is place to stay."

For Michael and the other residents here, the Josephinum is a refuge from the mean streets. But like a lot of low-income housing projects in Washington and across the nation, the building itself is in a slow state of decay.

Lisa Vatske: "We're definitely in jeopardy of losing those units, of not providing safe and affordable housing."

Lisa Vatske runs Washington's Housing Trust Fund. Think of it as an $800 million real estate portfolio.

That's how much money the state has invested over the past twenty years -- through loans and grants -- to help build low income housing.

We're talking about more than 1,500 projects or 35,000 homes and apartments statewide. These projects are run by non-profits, not the state.

But the problem, says Vatske, is when the Housing Trust fund was created in the late 1980s, no one gave much thought who was going to maintain these projects long term.

Now that bill is coming due.

Lisa Vatske: "There are significant capital needs - siding issues, mold issues, roof issues, window issues - that after a period of time projects don't really have the resources to invest."

The Josephinum in downtown Seattle is Exhibit A.

It's a twenty year old project. Catholic Housing Services runs the place. Right now it's in the midst of a ground floor remodel.

But over the next ten years, the rest of the building will also need major work: most critically proper ventilation in the hallways.

Building manager Margaret Genster takes me up to the 7th floor to drive home the point.

Austin Jenkins: "Ya, smells a little dank. How would you describe it?"

Margaret Genster: "I think that's a good choice."

Joining us on this tour is John Hickman, Director of Operations for Catholic Housing Services. He's crunched the numbers on what it will take to rehab the Josephinum.

John Hickman: "When you add it all up, we're looking at about $3 million in the next ten years."

The problem is the building's maintenance fund only has about $200,000 in it. If this were a regular apartment building, management could raise the rents.

But it's not that easy in low-income housing.

John Hickman: "So we're looking at where do we come up with $2.8 million?"

He hopes the City of Seattle --  a longtime partner in this project - will pony up. He also plans to ask the state of Washington for help. The Housing Trust Fund has a $300,000 investment in the Josephinum.

But the Fund's Lisa Vatske says right now if she got that request.

Lisa Vatske: "We would say that that's not a priority for us at this time. And we wouldn't fund it."

That's because, she says, state lawmakers expect the Housing Trust Fund to build new low-income housing units. Not rehab old ones. Especially in this tough economy.

Lisa Vatske: "There still is a great need for affordable housing across the state, but if we're continually just bringing in new units and not taking care of our old then we're really not making any progress."

Before the economy tanked, majority Democrats in Olympia were putting a $100 million a year into the Housing Trust Fund. A huge increase over previous years.

But as long as the economy and state budget remain a mess, new dollars for low-income housing rehab are going to be hard to come by.