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Twelve families will own new houses in North Portland thanks to an aging church population and Habitat for Humanity.

A series of steps inside the three-level, 50-year-old Rivergate Community Church was preventing older members from attending mass and community meetings, so the church looked into buying an elevator to improve accessibility. Initial bids for the project were $100,000, which was not in the church’s budget. So the church decided to sell some of its land.

When church leaders initially looked into selling a portion of the lot, they were told the land was worth $500,000 to $600,000, but that was before the real-estate bubble burst, said Frank West, associate pastor at Rivergate.

West said the church wasn’t comfortable selling to a commercial developer. So when someone in the church’s leadership group brought up Habitat for Humanity – and the work it did to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina – everyone jumped on the idea.

Habitat for Humanity could not afford to pay the market value for the lot, so Rivergate sold it for $225,000.

“They gave us half up front so we could build our lift right away,” West said. “The other half will come when their project is complete; I don’t know when that will be. We’re just thrilled to be a part of their project; we’re not even charging them interest.”

Habitat for Humanity couldn’t afford to purchase the land at the time, but it applied for and received tax increment financing through the Portland Housing Bureau’s Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area. Steve Messinetti, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Portland Metro/East, said his organization is dedicated to helping provide housing opportunities to low-income families.

Habitat for Humanity earlier this month began building two triplexes on the half-acre lot at the corner of North Lombard Street and North Olin Avenue. Two additional triplexes are planned for the lot zoned for density. Each triplex will house a two-bedroom unit, a three-bedroom unit and a four-bedroom unit.

Habitat for Humanity has selected the first eight families to each buy a unit in the new development.

“There has been huge support from the community to get this project going,” Messinetti said.

A group of corporations, local organizations, churches and families has pledged $75,000 toward the construction cost of each unit. Construction of the two additional triplexes is expected to begin in a few months, after financing is secured.

According to Messinetti, a family that makes as little as $25,000 a year can afford to buy a Habitat for Humanity home.

“We sell it for what it costs us to build it; there is no markup,” Messinetti said. “And since these homes are built with the help of volunteers, there are no labor costs.”

Once a home is completed, Habitat for Humanity serves as the lender to the family and offers it a no-interest loan. The triplex units are expected to sell for an average of $160,000 even though Messinetti said appraisals will be between $180,000 and $190,000.

The project is being called the Rivergate Commons, as a tribute to the church. The triplexes will be the most energy-efficient homes that Habitat for Humanity has ever built, according to Messinetti.

Habitat for Humanity enrolled in the Portland Energy Efficient Home Pilot grant program, which gave the nonprofit money to increase energy efficiency in one of the homes to 15 percent above the 2008 Oregon energy code, and in another to 30 percent above the code. Messinetti said the target for the next two triplexes will be for achievement of Earth Advantage energy standards.

Messinetti said the first phase of the project will be completed by April 2011, and the second phase will be finished by the end of 2011.