“Mercy Housing Northwest is delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with PeaceHealth,” Mercy Housing Northwest President Bill Rumpf said in the release. “We look forward to creating 72 new rental homes, with resident services designed to support health and wellness, children’s success in school and financial stability. We also acknowledge the Vancouver community for approving a housing levy to make it possible to create well-designed, affordable housing.”
The project location was chosen based on proximity to health care services, jobs, schools, bus service, and major thoroughfares. Resident services and programs will be offered on site.
Over the next few months, PeaceHealth and Mercy will collect information from the community that will lead to designs and decisions on resident services. Ground-breaking is projected sometime next year with a 2021 opening.
The project is expected to use $500,000 from the city’s Affordable Housing Fund, according to the city’s website. It also is expected to tap into affordable housing dollars and Vancouver-backed HOME funds. HOME is the largest federal block grant to state and local governments designed to create affordable housing for low-income households.
PeaceHealth and Mercy are expected to use the affordable homes incentive money to help with planning and construction costs, said Peggy Sheehan, Vancouver’s community development program manager, who leads the team that manages the Affordable Housing Fund.
