Housing Kitsap is once again partnering with a private developer on a plan to create homes in Poulsbo.

This time the non-profit housing authority is looking to build on property it already owns within College Marketplace master plan area, just east of Olympic College (see inset area map).

Housing Kitsap is working with development firm Central Highland Homes on the proposal, which would add 92 residential units to the 6.4-acre site.

Housing Kitsap Executive Director Stuart Grogan noted the property would provide residents easy access to the college campus, large retail centers and the highway. A YMCA could even be built on the same hillside.

“It’s sort of a perfect location,” Grogan said.

According to a preliminary plan presented to the Housing Kitsap board this week, the neighborhood would incorporate 42 single-family homes on small lots, and a three-story, 50-unit apartment building.

Half of the apartments would be rented at market rate. The other 25 would be rented to households earning 80 percent of area median income.

Central Highland would spearhead planning and development of both the houses and apartment building.

Housing Kitsap would sell the single-family portion of the property to Central Highland, and proceeds from the land sale would help pay for the multi-family units. The housing agency would secure a tax-exempt bond to repay a construction loan.

Grogan said Central Highland will submit a site plan review application to the city in the near future.

This isn’t the first time Housing Kitsap and Central Highland have joined forces. The two groups worked together to create 40 subsidized “self-help” homes in the nearby Summerset neighborhood.

And this isn’t the only project the housing authority is pursuing in Poulsbo. Housing Kitsap and Sound West Group recently announced plans for a mixed market-rate and affordable housing development on Viking Avenue.

With scant public money available for building affordable homes, groups like Housing Kitsap are increasingly leaning on partnerships with private firms to get projects moving.

“Figuring out ways to work with the private sector will be the wave of the future for all housing,” Grogan said.

This post was updated to correct the total unit count.