Construction crews will soon begin work at the corner of Fruit Valley Road and Firestone Lane on a $10 million affordable housing project set to open in 2011.
The 48-unit McCallister Village will be the first West Vancouver project developed by Affordable Community Environments, which operates 115 units of affordable rental housing in Orchards. Demand for low-income apartments continues to grow locally, despite downward pressure on rents due to the housing slump, said Leah Greenwood, housing development manager for ACE.
“More and more people are applying because they’ve lost their job or their home,” Greenwood said.
The mixed-use project was named after Lee McCallister, longtime president of the Fruit Valley neighborhood association. In addition to apartments, the two-building development will include a 1,700-square-foot community room and a 1,400-square-foot commercial space.
“We’re hoping for a deli or coffee shop,” Greenwood said.
The project’s general contractor is Vancouver-based Team Construction.
Low-income rents
Half the apartments at McCallister Village will be dedicated to extremely low-income renters, those making 30 percent or less than the Portland-Vancouver metro area’s median income of $70,000.
“For a family of four, it is $21,000 or less. For a single person, it’s $14,700,” Greenwood said.
At that income level, rents for studio units would start at approximately $320 per month, and two-bedroom unit rents would start at approximately $400 per month, according to guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The remaining studio, one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units at McCallister Village will be dedicated to renters who earn 50 percent less than median income. Some may be residents who qualify for Section 8 vouchers, a federal program that subsidizes rent that surpasses 30 percent of a household’s income.
“The project (McCallister Village) is aimed at folks who are coming in with some sort of public benefits or job,” Greenwood said.
Nonprofit funding
Grants to build McCallister Village came from federal, state, county and city low-income housing tax credits. Other grants were from Umpqua Bank and the Enterprise Foundation.
The nonprofit ACE signed a state agreement to maintain the development as low-income housing for at least 40 years. The aim is a mix of rental unit diversity in Clark County.
In Vancouver, average rents for market-rate apartments in January ranged from $600 per month for studio units to $1,149 per month for two-bedroom apartments, according to Portland-based Norris & Stevens Real Estate Services.
“It’s really the intention for this (McCallister Village) to become permanent, affordable housing. That doesn’t mean rents won’t go up, but they won’t go to market rates,” Greenwood said.
