With help from a $2.5 million from Oakland County’s housing trust fund, a new 72-unit multifamily housing development has opened in Pontiac.

Westwood South Apartments, 837 Golf Drive in Pontiac, have two complete buildings already at capacity and a third under construction.

Frank Bell, a U.S. Navy veteran and Pontiac native, lived in Lincoln Park until he had the opportunity to rent a Westwood apartment with help from the federal Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program. He uses a wheelchair after losing his legs to disease. He praised the developers for their humanistic treatment.

Humane treatment, he said, “is about peace, quiet and tranquility that’s what I have here.”

At Monday’s ribbon cutting, County Executive Dave Coulter said good quality, safe housing is essential for Oakland County residents of all income brackets, adding “healthy communities start with good neighborhoods.”The county commission created the county’s housing trust fund with $20 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. Coulter said that sounds like a lot of money, but it has all been committed. County officials are now working on ways to keep the fund going.

Coulter said grants made to developers will be repaid over time. Deputy County Executive Madiha Tariq said the commission has committed $2 million annually but she is also looking for donations to create a robust revolving fund.

The trust fund helps existing developers by providing funding with a requirement to include affordable housing units.

Bill Chalmers, Westwood Apartment Communities’ managing partner, said the county’s $2.5 grant was essential to finishing the contract, because inflation has increased costs.

He said 60% of people renting Westwood units work for United Wholesale Mortgage, less than three miles away. Three residents are from India — in one case a man came to the U.S. to work at Trinity Health and was thrilled to find a home close to work, he said.

The one- and two-bedroom units range from 660 square feet to 1,025 square feet with one or two bathrooms. The units have washer-dryer hook-ups, air conditioning, a dishwasher and microwave. Rent ranges from $1,150 to $1,450 with federal housing vouchers for up to six units in each of the three buildings.

Chalmers described Westwood as diverse in every possible way: Income, age, race, gender and sexual orientation.

The apartments are just south of the Links at Crystal Lake, a golf course on the edge of the lake, and less than two miles from Bowens senior center and across a parking lot from a Montessori school.

It is across the parking lot from the office for Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, a Medicare and Medicaid program that serves Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.

Chalmers said construction included adding 12 overnight beds for PACE.

Chalmers praised Vern Gustafsson, Pontiac’s former planning manager and now the project director and planner at the Pontiac Housing Commission, for shepherding the project through the city’s planning and zoning process.

Deborah Younger, the city’s economic development manager, told Chalmers about the county’s grant program and Councilwoman Melanie Rutherford was “a big champion” of the project even before she was elected to the city council, Chalmers said.

“One apartment, one home at a time,” said Rutherford, who is on the housing commission’s board of directors. “I’m so proud to be a part of this.”

The apartments are on the abandoned site of a former Baptist College. The project included gutting and renovating what had been dorm rooms for the college students, Chalmers said.

The first two buildings have reached capacity, he said. He expects a third building will fill up quickly after it is finished in September.