Neighborhood Concepts, Inc. is moving ahead on two affordable housing projects in Huntsville that will also open construction jobs and contracts to local low-income residents.

The nonprofit is building Meridian Commons and New Stone Commons, both funded in part by federal dollars that trigger Section 3 of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Act. That rule requires that jobs, training and contracting opportunities created by the projects go first to low-income and very low-income people, and to businesses that employ them.

“We are a local Huntsville-based nonprofit, and we have two sides of the house,” said Mary Ellen Judah, executive director of Neighborhood Concepts. “We’re trying to strengthen neighborhoods through the development of affordable housing, and then also through providing access to economic opportunity.”

Construction has already started on New Stone Commons, a 42-unit apartment complex on Venona Avenue off Mastin Lake Road. Judah said the project should be finished by May 2027, with preleasing to start about six weeks before completion.

“We’ll start preleasing activities probably six weeks before that, with hopes that we’ll have the whole property leased up and ready to go by the end of next summer,” Judah said.

Meridian Commons, at 111 Walker Ave. in downtown Huntsville, is further behind. The project will replace an aging 101-unit senior housing building that has served residents under a HUD Section 8 contract since it was built in 1978.

“That property was really reaching functional obsolescence,” Judah said.

Neighborhood Concepts has temporarily relocated the roughly 50 to 55 residents who lived there while it waits on final approval from HUD. Once cleared, the nonprofit plans to demolish the existing eight-story building and replace it with a four-story, 101-unit building.

“A little more complementary to the downtown skyline,” Judah said.

Judah said Section 3 itself applies specifically to construction workers, not future residents. Income limits on who can live in the finished units come instead from the financing tied to each property.

“We are looking primarily to provide housing for low-income folks within our community,” she said.

To connect eligible workers and businesses with the projects, Neighborhood Concepts is working with community organizations, the Home Builders Association and the Huntsville Housing Authority, since public housing residents can also qualify as Section 3 workers.

Businesses can qualify too. Judah said a company counts as a Section 3 business if it is at least 51% owned by a low-income individual, or if 75% of its labor hours are performed by low-income employees.

Workers or business owners interested in the opportunities can contact Anna Castellanos, the organization’s Section 3 coordinator, at 256-534-0075, extension 401.

Neighborhood Concepts has another Section 3 property, a 48-unit senior building off Jeff Road, holding its grand opening next week.