Ribbon cutting at Blueberry Terrace: ACAH and the City of Valdez celebrate 20 new units of affordable housing

On a blustery July day in Valdez, Alaska, community members, builders, developers and congressional representatives gathered in a neighborhood nestled beneath green mountains to celebrate the completion of 20 new affordable housing units that local residents will soon call home.

The July 8 ribbon cutting at Blueberry Terrace celebrated the completion of years of work, spearheaded by the Alaska Corporation for Affordable Housing, a subsidiary of Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, in partnership with the City of Valdez. 

In 2011, the Alaska Legislature passed HB119 allowing AHFC to create a subsidiary to develop affordable housing throughout Alaska. As a subsidiary of AHFC, ACAH develops, manages, and operates affordable housing and provides services to support the mission of AHFC: providing Alaskans access to safe, quality, affordable housing. In addition to the latest development in Valdez, ACAH properties include a combined 88 units of housing in Anchorage and 58 units in Fairbanks.

Learn more about ACAH properties.

Creating Community

The design at Blueberry Terrace aims to create the feeling of single-family properties for the residents while maintaining affordability. The development consists of 10 duplexes making each of the 20 units an end unit. The units are separated by garages, meaning that residents don’t share walls with their neighbors’ living spaces. The result is a cost-effective development that also enhances privacy.

Duplex design at Blueberry Terrace takes into account a range of housing needs – from Older Alaskans looking for a small and affordable space to help them maintain their independence to growing families looking for an affordable neighborhood to raise their children.

Unit Configurations:

• Two three-bedroom units
• Nine two-bedroom units (one accessible)
• Nine one-bedroom units (all accessible)

“The accessible design is one of my favorite things about this property,” says Chelsea Smith, Director, ACAH. “It means that we can help more seniors who want to age in place and we can help those who have disabilities who need that accessibility, but the units are still desirable for those who don't need either of those things. And so we're able to serve a broader population.”

Working Together to Meet Local Needs

The property serves as evidence that partnership between local governments, investors and AHFC can help meet the housing needs of Alaskans. In Valdez, the lack of available and affordable housing is so severe that the Valdez City Council established housing availability as their top priority for 2025.

“We have more jobs than there are people in Valdez but we lack housing for middle and low-income families,” says Valdez Mayor Dennis Fleming.

“There was a big need for us to have housing in the community of Valdez and Alaska Housing was our partner in this.”

Senator Lisa Murkowski echoed this priority during her remarks at the ribbon cutting, commended the community for taking a tangible step toward addressing their top identified need:

“We can focus on healthcare or we can focus on education, or we can focus on tourism or what needs to happen within our fisheries. But at the end of the day, everybody who's involved in education, in healthcare, in tourism and fisheries – they all need a place to live. And so it all comes back to housing…So to the people of Valdez: you have led by example, you've set the standard today.”

Housing for Alaskans, by Alaskans

While 20 units won’t solve the housing shortage in the community of about 3,900 residents, the development is an important step in demonstrating the power of partnerships to deliver housing that is not only affordable but desirable and that meets local needs while adding to the existing neighborhood. 

“This is a nice neighborhood and this housing fits perfectly,” Mayor Fleming says. “They took time in the design. They considered things that are important for our town, like purposely building the roofs to hold the amount of snow we are known for.” 

In a community known for extreme snowfall, the construction team, Wolverine Construction, received praise for working year round to deliver units ahead of schedule. 

“It’s common for contractors to start the foundation one year and then take the winter off and do the rest of the building the following summer,” says Mayor Fleming. “Wolverine Construction were out here in the middle of winter. I would drive by in 40 mile per hour winds and negative 12 degree temperature and I’d see them out here working. It was impressive.”

“This is the completion of probably three years of work,” he continues. “But the construction company and Alaska Housing got together with the city of Valdez and we were able to accomplish it in about two years, from breaking ground to finishing it up.”

ACAH Director Chelsea Smith described the partnership with the City of Valdez as “a full-on success.”

“The community has been wonderful. We chose to build here because they offered funding incentives that really helped us stretch our dollars further and spread our impact throughout the state. The City of Valdez came to the table with a development incentive for infrastructure and a residential unit incentive. By utilizing those, we were able to partner with our tax credit investor and utilize our funds more fiscally responsibly.”

“Getting to this stage of ribbon cutting is kind of surreal,” she reflected. “I was talking to one of our partners today and the last time he was here, we were looking at a vacant piece of land. So to come back and see a place where people are gonna be able to grow a family right across from an elementary school is truly special.’

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Visit ahfc.us/about-us/subsidiaries/acah to learn more about ACAH, inquire about applications and waitlists, and take virtual tours of units.