Tenants are moving into this affordable Bellingham housing development
Tenants are moving into Mercy Housing’s latest affordable family housing project in Bellingham as the building gets its finishing touches.
The Trailview apartments at 2412 Rimland Drive in the Barkley Village neighborhood have 77 units that are one, two and three bedrooms with 77 parking stalls on site.
The apartments will house people making 30% to 50% of Whatcom County’s area median income. For those making 50% of the median income, rents range from $811 to $1,111.
“Housing costs are escalating rapidly in Bellingham and Whatcom County,” said Mercy Housing Northwest President Joe Thompson in a telephone interview with The Bellingham Herald.
Fifteen of the units are set aside for families who are either homeless or at risk of being homeless. Another 15 units are set aside for households with a member who has a disability, Thompson told The Herald.
It was about 60% occupied by mid-December. The first tenants began moving in Nov. 23 and is expected to be fully occupied by the end of the year, according to Thompson.
Mercy Housing is also partnering with the YMCA to develop a seven-classroom early-learning center on the first floor of the Trailview apartment building. It will provide childcare for up to 104 children from infant through pre-kindergarden. That center will likely be open by March 2023, according to Thompson.
“We typically find — when we combine early-learning centers and affordable housing — that some of the households have their kids enrolled and it often becomes an employment opportunity for some adults,” Thompson said.
Trailview will also have resident services, focusing on housing stability and success, health and wellness, financial stability and community connectivity, Thompson said.
The Trailview apartments project took just over one year to construct, according to Thompson.
It cost about $25 million, with about $3 million coming from the Bellingham Home Fund, a property tax that was approved by voters in 2018 and helps pay for low-income housing programs citywide.
Mercy Housing has six affordable housing projects with 500 units in Bellingham. The non-profit is about to break ground on its seventh development in the city, The Millworks Project.
