Home For Good, a non-profit aimed at getting low to moderate income earners into their own homes, hopes its first Seattle project in Ballard will serve as an example that affordable homes can still be built in today's housing climate.

"We're trying to demonstrate that this can be done," said Melanie Gillespie, executive director of Home For Good. "Nothing would make me happier."

Though it eventually plans to build a total of 110 low-to-moderate income units in Ballard, the first project includes 22 homes.

The proposal calls for two buildings at 1506 N.W. 62nd St.; a four-story structure with 22 residential units and a ground-floor, 700 square foot commercial space.

The second development is for a two-unit townhouse. Underground parking is planned and the existing tri-plex on the lot would be demolished.

Fifty-one percent of the units at each site, or "Urban Gardens Project," planned by Home For Good in Seattle (105 in Capital Hill, 105 in the University District) will be affordable to those earning at or below 80 percent of area median income. The other 49 percent would be sold for between 80 and 120 percent of area median income.

Home For Good uses income data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which for 2008 lists the area median income here for a family of two to be about $49,200 annually and roughly $42,000 for a single-person household.

The homes would stay tied to those income levels for as long as they are standing, Gillespie said.

Gillespie said projects like hers are vital to ensuring the workforce has a place to live here. She characterizes home ownership opportunities in Seattle as a "mess."

"In terms of home ownership opportunities in Seattle, there are none," said Gillespie. "It's impossible to buy a home in Seattle without a six-figure income."

"Our target is very much the urban workforce in general," Gillespie said. "Do we want to become a city like San Francisco where only the very wealthy and poor can live in the city? I'm pretty sure that's not the kind of city Seattle wants to become."

Ballard was an obvious choice for the first Seattle Home For Good site, said Gillespie because the community is and has historically been "an integral part of the Seattle workforce."

In general, the north-end of the city has a shortage of low-to-moderate income housing, especially for home ownership, she added.

"Ballard just seemed like a really great place to start that," Gillespie said.

Available housing for these income brackets is a challenge not only for Seattle, but across the country in small and large cities, she said.

"I don't think there are enough resources in the country to address the needs of low-to-moderate income housing needs. The resources are finite."

A tentative development schedule includes breaking ground by the end of the year, with construction lasting about 10 to 12 months, completing by the end of 2012.

Gillespie said Home For Good plans to work with the current tenants on the site to find new housing or home ownership opportunities through the new development.

She said she plans to start some outreach to those renters within the next month or two.

The project is still going through permitting stages with the city. It had its latest design critiqued by the Northwest Design Review Board March 9, a necessary step to obtaining a Master Use Permit.

"We were happy with the outcome at the end of the day," said Gillespie.