Developers, Vancouver Housing Authority present 95‑unit 'Eden Park' workforce housing plan

Developers and the Vancouver Housing Authority (VHA) returned to the Battle Ground City Council to outline Eden Park, a proposed 95‑unit apartment project the presenters said would be entirely reserved as workforce housing (targeting 50–80% area‑median income rents) and would include significant infrastructure improvements to spur adjacent development.

Presenters said the project would deliver 95 affordable workforce units, new local streets and sewer infrastructure that could unlock roughly 70 acres of under‑served regional commercial land. The project team asked the city to authorize VHA participation; as a public housing authority, VHA’s involvement would mean the land could be held in a public‑entity structure that is generally tax‑exempt, and the team proposed a capitalized payment in lieu of taxes and other credits to partially offset the city’s foregone property tax revenue.

The proposal matters because it aims to expand workforce‑level housing in a market where construction and financing costs are pushing new apartments to rents above what middle‑income local workers can afford. It also presents a tradeoff: the project team said achieving restricted rents would require a property‑tax abatement tied to VHA participation, which would reduce revenues to some local taxing districts unless the city and developers offset that loss.

TJ Fonten…