Stonington — It's going to be another four months before applications will be accepted for housing at the Spruce Meadows at 100 South Broad St., and it won't be until September that the construction there is finished and residents can begin moving in, but the project's director of real estate said people already are calling, anxious to get in. 

"I don't know how they find me, or how they get my cellphone number, but people are already calling me and I have to tell them it's too soon to start, it's too soon to be taking names. There is no wait list, but we could open a list and the numbers would be sky high," Julie Savin said.

Construction of the $10 million, 43-unit Spruce Meadow, the first phase of an eventual 86-unit, mixed-income housing project located just west of the former Rutman's furniture on South Broad Street, better known as Route 1, is getting the attention of passersby — some who would like to live there.

Ground will be broken for a second phase of the project, Spruce Ridge, also 43 units and estimated at about $10 million, in April, when the old furniture store will be demolished to make way.

The two Spruces are the work of the New Haven-based nonprofit NeighborWorks/New Horizons, whose goal is to create affordable mixed-income housing, revitalize neighborhoods, address homelessness and offer community outreach programming for youths and adults in urban and suburban areas.

In both phases of the project, some units will rent at market rates, and some will be scaled to three different "set-asides" determined by federal Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines.

Everyone who lives there must have income, whether earned or unearned, such as Social Security.

There will be one-, two- and three-bedroom units, and regardless of the cost of the rental, they will all be identical, so tenants will not know who is paying the affordable rate, and who is paying the market rate.

The housing sorely is needed in town, said Vicki L. Anderson, executive director of the Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center.

"There is a great need frankly, in the Pawcatuck, North Stonington and Stonington area, for affordable housing," she said. "We have a lot of people here who make between say $30,000 and $55,000 a year and have a great deal of difficulty finding an adequate place to live for an affordable amount of money and it does put them behind the eight-ball in so many ways. And to be able to have a nice, brand new place that these people could afford would just be a godsend to these hard-working people."

Leanne Theodore, the human services director in Stonington, said subsidized housing facilities in town continue to have long wait lists, and with the cost of living in the area continuing to rise, the need for affordable housing is across the board.

"In addition to low and/or single income families, we have many senior citizens in town who currently own their own homes, but the upkeep and cost of general maintenance have become too much to bear when their only source of income is Social Security," she said, adding, "The addition of affordable housing units will allow lifelong residents the ability to remain in their hometown."

Theodore shared statistics from the federal Department of Housing & Urban Development that showed fair market rates for rental housing in Stonington are $1,710 for a four-bedroom unit; $1,474 for three bedrooms; $1,119 for two bedrooms; $861 for one bedroom and $732 for an efficiency.

But, she said, oftentimes prices exceed those rents, especially the closer a renter gets to the shoreline.

At the Spruces, Savin said rents could range from a low of $300 to a high of $1,500, depending on the size of the unit, size of the family and income level of the occupants.

People looking for affordable housing, she said, "Are people like us, they look just like us. It could be your son or daughter, or your mom or dad. We are talking about people who are making $40,000 to $60,000."

"It's the people you come in contact with every day, the person who waits on you at the Water Street Café, or the person who serves you coffee at the Yellow House, or the recent graduate with their first teaching job at Deans Mill School, it's the person who greets you at Stonington Town Hall," she said.

Savin, who has worked for NeighborWorks since 2008, lives in town and is a member of the Stonington Housing Authority. She said the South Broad Street project has been in the works since before 2010.

"It took us that long to raise the money and go through the design iterations," she said, explaining that funding comes from the state, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, private financing and other grants.

"We want this to look beautiful. It will look like any other market-rate place," she said. "My permanent mortgage rate is low enough to offer affordable rates, that is the difference."

In June, NeighborWorks expects to begin advertising, hosting open houses and accepting applications, Savin said.

To qualify for the affordable units, applicants will need to supply evidence of income and family size, and go through background and credit checks. 

If approved for occupancy, tenants will be rescreened annually to ensure they still meet HUD requirements.

First Selectman Rob Simmons said this type of congregate housing will benefit existing residents, including the elderly.

"There are people who have lived here a long time, and they want to stay here, but maybe now they're empty-nesters, or they don't want or need that big three- or four-bedroom house with the big lawn," Simmons said. "Or they may be an entry-level teacher who just started teaching in town. This is not warehousing people on public assistance, this is about sprinkling people of various economic levels; this is what I call workforce housing."

For more about NeighborWorks visit www.nwnh.net.

a.baldelli@theday.com

Twitter: @annbaldelli