The largest affordable housing project carried out by Habitat for Humanity of Central Lane is underway in Springfield.
At a construction site off of R Street, work crews dig, hammer, and drill away on what’s called Fischer Village. It’ll eventually consist of six tandem houses, which will provide twelve homes.
Annie Leadingham is the development and marketing manager for Habitat for Humanity of Central Lane. She told KLCC that these homes are for people that meet their income requirements of being between 40% to 80% of the area median income.
She also explained that the difference between a tandem house and a duplex is that the latter is an investment property, “whereas someone can own a tandem home with a mortgage.”
“We hold the mortgage, so it’s a very, very low, low, low, low, low interest rate for the homeowner,” said Leadingham. “When the homeowner gets into their mortgage, based on no more than 30% of their gross income from the time that they start in the program.”
Habitat for Humanity had hoped to finish Fischer Village several years ago, but the pandemic and internal changes with the organization’s leadership caused delays.
Leadingham said that this will be the largest such project since the Meyer Estates that was completed about a decade ago. She added that there is another project underway in Cottage Grove that will also have six homes. Habitat for Humanity and the University of Oregon’s School of Architecture are collaborating on that venture.
As for Fischer Village, applications will open on July 17, with pre-planning packets made available starting June 19.
