It was an important day in the continued transformation of the Issaquah Highlands from development-in-progress to active community, with the groundbreaking ceremony on Habitat for Humanity’s 10 home site last Thursday.

The Highlands Habitat site will consist of 5 four bedroom units, 3 three bedroom units and 2 two bedroom units, to be made available to lower-income families.

Looking from Magnolia Street over the southern reaches of Lake Sammamish and to Seattle and the Olympic Mountains to west, suits mingled with sweat pants, as Issaquah and Sammamish city officials, and representatives of King County and Habitat for Humanity, were joined by AmeriCorps volunteers and the families that will one day occupy the homes, in a ceremony full of gratitude and optimism.

The Talton’s are among the families hoping to move in to one of the Habitat homes when they are completed in 2012.

Alissa Talton, with babe in arms, spoke in front of those assembled, and explained the enormous impact that the opportunity to move into their own Habitat home has had on her family.

Her husband Mikel is currently deployed with the Navy, and in the meantime Alissa in charge of raising their three children and working two jobs.

The Cornejo family currently lives in a two bedroom apartment in Renton, and pay more than 60 percent of their income towards housing.

With just one income supporting the family, Veronica, the mother, has increased her hours at Target.

She listened earnestly to the officials and guests of honor as her children played on the vacant lot, a space that could one day be their very own yard.

The ability of hourly wage earners, and those in the health care, teaching, retail and service industries to live in or near the communities in which they work is a focus of the provision of affordable housing in areas like Issaquah and Sammamish.

In 2007, the median price for a house in East King County was $600,000.

Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of East King County, Tom Granger, who spoke at Thursday’s groundbreaking, said earlier this year that “we have essentially driven low income people out of our communities.”

Two days after the groundbreaking ceremony in Issaquah, Habitat celebrated the completion of their six home project in Redmond, with a community dedication involving the six new homeowners and the many volunteers.

The Habitat site in the Highlands is the latest in an ongoing program of affordable housing projects approved by the City of Issaquah, as it seeks to fulfill its mandate for a minimum of 10 percent of housing in new developments to be made available to low income earners.

Habitat for Humanity completed the purchase of the one acre property in December of last year, made possible by donations and grant funding.

The property is on the west side of Northeast Magnolia Street, between Northeast Logan and Northeast Mulberry Streets.

The Habitat homes will be built to a 4-star Built Green standard, a program that evaluates housing construction in its environmental sensitivity to water conservation, energy efficiency, and indoor air quality, and will adhere to the established guidelines of the Issaquah Highlands Architectural Review Committee.

Alan Boeker, President of Port Blakely Communities, the developer behind the Highlands, told The Reporter this week that “Building houses builds families and strong communities at the same time. This is a project that is dear to our hearts and we are proud to welcome Habitat for Humanity to Issaquah Highlands.”

Port Blakely has instituted that 30 percent of the housing in the Highlands must be affordable for “low, middle and moderate” income earners, with each housing category connected to scaled means tests.

To qualify for a Habitat home, families must be earning less than 50 percent of the areas median income.

The area median income for a family of two is $65,000.

To be considered prospective homeowners must also demonstrate that their current living conditions are unsafe or unsanitary.

According to Habitat, almost one-fourth of Eastside families pay more than 30 percent for housing, and overcrowding and substandard conditions are not uncommon.

One of the great strengths of the Habitat program is the involvement of the homeowners themselves.

The ‘sweat equity’ requirement demands that families that are to move into the new homes must put in at least 500 hours on the construction of the home, or other sweat equity projects, and participate in homeowner training which includes classes on home maintenance and budgeting.

Habitat homeowner applicants cannot have owned a home in the past three years.

Though there is some debate as to the definition of “affordable housing,” the City of Issaquah, in it’s attempts to construct an affordable housing policy which suits the needs of the city, defines housing as affordable if it costs no more than 30 percent of the family’s income.

Issaquah Mayor Ava Frisinger has long been an advocate of housing for low income families as a member of the Executive Board of A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH), and is partly responsible for Issaquah exceeding the required minimum of affordable housing in the city.

Frisinger was joined at the groundbreaking by Sammamish Mayor Don Gerend.

Granger also praised Port Blakely Communities, the developer of the Highlands, for their support of the Habitat project and of affordable housing projects in the Highlands in general.