TRAVESRE CITY — A new affordable housing community in Traverse City is now accepting residents.
Ruth Park Apartments on Wellington Street in Traverse City is a new 58-unit development featuring one to three-bedroom apartments for families with an annual income between $26,970 to $71,920.
Traverse City’s Mayor Amy Shamroe and other city officials toured the new development on Wednesday and met with one of the first families to move in.
Dustin and Jourdan Wonegeshik, along with their three children, moved in two days after Christmas. However, they said it took over a year for them to find a place and had to live in their parents’ basement in the meantime.
“Rent almost everywhere was pretty outrageous. And the waitlists,” Dustin said.
They said they were put on waitlists that were up to two years long.
“I think that can kind of be the misconception that there’s only certain type of people that need affordable housing, but it really is a very wide swath of people,” Mayor Shamroe explained.
Mayor Shamroe said the lack of affordable housing are impacting city’s economy. She said the new apartments doesn’t solve the problem, but does show they’re on the right track.
“Seeing some of these shifts so that we’re getting more housing for people who desperately need it is just a relief to finally have that happening,” Mayor Shamroe states.
The Wonegeshik’s say their grateful for their new home and the future that it will provide their family.
“It’s a little surreal still,” Jourdan admitted.
The Ruth Park Apartments are expected to be filled up by the end of January with another affordable housing project, Annika Place, expected to wrap up in April.
“Projects like these are going to help people get into that housing that they’ve been so desperately needing and have been priced out of,” Mayor Shamroe said.