Stonington First Selectman Rob Simmons was finishing his grocery shopping recently when the check-out clerk expressed her interest in securing an apartment in Spruce Meadows, the 43-unit affordable mixed-income housing under construction off Route 1 in Pawcatuck.

The store clerk is exactly the type of person Spruce Meadows aims to serve: working people who have lived in or near Stonington most of their lives, but struggle to afford the community’s generally pricey housing.

“I called it work-force housing,” Simmons said of affordable housing such as Spruce Meadows, along with a second 43-unit phase to be called Spruce Ridge. Rents at the Spruces will range from $300 to $1,500 a month depending on the size of the unit and the family’s size and income level.

“Not everyone can afford to live in Stone Ridge,” Simmons said. That sprawling and upscale Mystic senior living complex carries an average monthly housing cost of some $2,300.

The Spruces are producing much excitement and anticipation among potential future tenants, but the project’s significance extends beyond the 86 families it will soon house. The Spruces also could help re-shape general attitudes about what affordable housing is and isn’t. If the community comes to accept the Spruces as a pleasant, tidy Pawcatuck neighborhood, it should bode well for future affordable housing proposals in Stonington and other nearby towns.

Too often potholes and barriers block the path toward affordable housing in the form of zoning regulations and other land-use restrictions. Housing advocates also battle a long-standing negative image equating affordable housing with ill-kept, crowded and dangerous public housing projects.

Attitudes are slow to shift even as low- and moderate-wage workers, which include entry level professionals such as teachers and police officers, find the local housing market off-limits. Information from the Partnership for Strong Communities shows that 60 percent of the state’s renters pay more than the 30 percent of their income on rent, the threshold for housing to be considered affordable. In order to afford a typical 2-bedroom unit in the state, renters must earn more than $23 an hour. Nearly half of the state’s occupations, including machinists, mental health counselors, pre-school teachers and corrections officers pay average wages less than this amount, according to the partnership.

Combine this with the fact that there hasn’t been a new affordable housing neighborhood built in Stonington in many years and it’s no wonder the Spruces real estate project director Julie Savin said she already is receiving frequent calls from people hoping to be future tenants of the Pawcatuck apartments. Unfortunately, it will be four months until the project director can start accepting applications from those eager tenants-to-be.

This kind of demand leaves no doubt Spruce Meadows will be full of new residents as soon as it is completed and that demand will remain high for phase two at Spruce Ridge. Another 17 units at the new River Road Thread Mill development will provide more affordably priced apartments. Expect those also to quickly fill up.

The true test of the future of affordable housing in town depends on how the rest of the community views these new neighborhoods. Given the need for affordable housing in the region, we expect the public to welcome their newest neighbors and for pride of community to proliferate at the Spruces just as in any other neighborhood.

It would also be welcomed news to see an increasing number of suburban towns in our region recognize the critical importance of such “work-force housing” and view it as a source of strength for their communities rather than a basis for concern.