BI’s 18-unit Ericksen Community housing project complete

Published 1:30 am Thursday, July 16, 2026

The permanently affordable Ericksen Community housing project located on Bainbridge Island has been completed, with the first residents moving in this August.

Housing Resources Bainbridge is the primary developer responsible for the project, which is located at the intersection of Ericksen Avenue NE and Knechtel Way NE. The housing features 12 one-bedroom units and six three-bedroom units, with the project’s budget approximately $8.18 million.

HRB shared that rent will be set by the project’s government funders to be affordable to households earning at or below 50% of the area median income ($45,400 for a one-person household and $64,800 for a four-person household). HRB was awarded seven project-based vouchers for the project. Residents of homes with vouchers will pay 30% of their household income toward rent, with the federal government covering the remainder.

Tamar Kupiec, HRB communications director, added that the Ericksen Community is “permanently affordable, which means that they will keep doing what they were built to do – provide housing stability to people who are shut out of our high-priced market and are vulnerable to displacement, even homelessness. It also means that the value of every dollar, public or private, invested in these projects will be maximized.”

The Ericksen Community was funded with a $2.75 million grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce Housing Trust Fund, with an additional $480,000 in infrastructure investments through the department’s Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program, $1.66 million from Kitsap County, and $1.2 million in private grants. The community contributed almost $2 million to Ericksen’s construction in donations.

The corner that is now the Ericksen Community was sold in 2019 by a donor, HRB shared in a press release. After recent acquisitions from private developers at Wintergreen Townhomes and the Oliver, the Ericksen Community will be HRB’s first ground-up development since the completion of Ferncliff Village Phase Two in 2016.

“Bainbridge Island needs the Ericksen Community,” said HRB executive director Phedra Elliot in the release. “Certainly, it helps the city fulfill its affordable housing responsibilities under the Growth Management Act. But as important, we have our own mandate–an ethical and existential one. We have a duty to provide housing to those who need it, and doing so will keep our community strong and vital, one that reflects the world at large and not a gated community.”

The architect for the Ericksen Community is local firm Wenzlau Architects, marking HRB’s second collaboration with the firm.

“When I design affordable homes, the challenge is to blend practicality and price with livability,” said Charlie Wenzlau in the release. “Each home should be a place to establish friendships, raise a family and feel at peace.”

The Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network (BARN) also partnered with HRB to create decorative panels and a bench for the building. BARN woodworkers project lead Wayne Chang and community service manager Mike Rehder worked together to enhance the entryways and foyer of the building with the help of 16 volunteers.

HRB has not enlisted the help of BARN since 2011, when volunteers with the Bainbridge Community Woodworkers, a precursor to BARN, built a bus shelter and garden shed at HRB’s Ferncliff Village, the press release shared.

The wood used by BARN was once the trees that called the corner of Ericksen Avenue and Knechtel Way home. The alder caught the eye of a woodworker on the island, David Kotz, and once the announcement of the Ericksen Community was public, Kotz knew exactly what he wanted to do.

After contacting Wenzlau, Kotz offered to transport and mill the trees into lumber to use at the new affordable housing units. Kotz coordinated with BARN and did the work for free.

BARN completed the installation of the wood at Ericksen, including 18 slender panels that adorn one side of the shallow alcoves at the entry to each unit and two wider panels for a bench.

According to the National Community Survey, Bainbridge Island scored in the bottom 3% of the national benchmark for availability of affordable housing. Compared to Kitsap County, where 32% of households rent, Bainbridge has far fewer homes, with only 19% of households renting.

“HRB built its first affordable homes in 1992,” said Kupiec. “In the decades since, our community land trust has grown to include 75 owner-occupied homes and 121 rental homes. For context, there are only 305 income-restricted affordable rentals on Bainbridge Island, and there are no income-restricted homes for ownership other than those in the HRB land trust. Certainly, the community needs far more than we’ve built, but these developments make meaningful progress on our community’s housing goals.”

Independent economic and public policy consulting firm ECOnorthwest led a team to develop a Housing Action Plan for Bainbridge Island, which was approved by the City Council in June 2023. The plan is organized under nine diverse strategies and includes 30 detailed actions to be completed during the next five years, or by 2030. Some of these priorities include diversifying and stabilizing housing, building more affordable housing for low to moderate-income households, providing housing for Bainbridge Island workers, supporting sustainable development and providing more housing support for special populations.

The Washington state median age is 38, while Bainbridge Island’s median age sits at 50. More than one-third of the island’s residents are over 60 years old, which is 1.5 times higher than Washington state’s percentage.