One year after islander Mike Masi secured water shares for an affordable housing project on Gorsuch Road and began the process to determine the possibility of such a project, funding is being secured.

Masi, along with Vashon nonprofit Shelter America Group and Bellevue’s Shelter Resources Inc., is planning to build 41 low-density, townhouse-style units of affordable housing on a 7-acre plot of land Masi purchased one decade ago. The development will be called Creekside Village and will serve the island’s workforce — households earning no more than 50 to 60 percent of area median income. Rents are expected to be $607 to $866 below current rates. Currently average monthly rent is between $1,200 and $1,300 for a one-bedroom apartment.

Chris Bric, president of Shelter America Group, said he has applied for funds from King County’s Transit Oriented Development program. Due to the village’s proximity to park-and-ride lots, bus and ferry service, Bric said the project should qualify, though the funding is still under consideration by the county.

“If we are successful in getting county funds, our prospects of making this a reality are greatly improved,” Bric said. “This is the first step. The best case scenario is we break ground by 2018.”

He said the zoning for the land has already been switched from a trailer park to multi-family housing and that the project has the support of the island’s Community Advisory Group, which is currently working to update Vashon’s Community Service Area Plan.

“There’s a lot of interest in seeing this project done,” Bric said. “There will not be another opportunity on the island.”

The topic of affordable housing was addressed last Monday at a community forum that brought together Vashon HouseHold Executive Director Chris Szala, King County’s Manager of Regional Housing &Community Development Mark Ellerbrook and Scott Shapiro, a private developer responsible for the The Lodges on Vashon. Dozens of community members attended and asked questions of the housing experts, ranging from the island’s demand for affordable housing, how affordable housing is classified and the Gorsuch Road project.

Szala noted that the island has 4,920 housing units — homes, apartments and condos. Of those, 830 are rentals, and only 200 are affordable, meaning they are within reach for those making between 30 and 80 percent of the county’s median income. He explained that median income in King County is $90,000 for a four-person household, meaning that most who work on Vashon are only making about 50 percent of the median. He also said the waitlist for Vashon HouseHold’s projects ranges from 60 to 90 people deep at any given time.

One woman who lives on Gorsuch, near Masi’s site, said that she recently received a letter giving notice about Creekside Village. She expressed skepticism about the project and “paving over” the property to make the development.

“I’m actually horrified to think of my street getting paved over like that and that kind of density because we’re in a really environmentally sensitive area with a lot of water flow,” she said.

In response, Szala acknowledged her fears and said that the environmental standards developers need to meet are “onerous.”

“We really are held to very, very high standards. So, in terms of the environmental impacts I would say not so much, in terms of worry, if I were you. In terms of what we want our island to look like, and that’s the honest discussion we’re having here, a 40-unit thing? That’s something we need to decide,” Szala said. “But we’re really at a certain crux here of if we don’t have affordable housing, that transforms things dramatically here on our island as well.”

Meanwhile, longtime island real estate broker Emma Amiad said that the island desperately needs a development like this. She said a survey she conducted eight years ago revealed that most who work on-island are paying 50 percent of their income toward rent.

“I’m thrilled we’re getting it,” she said. “It’s a culmination of the needs and the wants of lots of people. It’s workforce housing, we’re not talking about a government housing project. There are still lots of hoops to jump through and completion is years out, but this is what we need.”

The Nov. 14 housing forum is available to watch online at voiceofvashon.org/TV.