Large families have few apartment options in the Twin Cities. One development hopes to help.

A gleaming new apartment building stands to help revitalize a timeworn stretch of Maplewood’s Gladstone area.

The 65-unit Juniper also stands to meet a need that housing advocates say is acute across the metro and Minnesota: There aren’t enough apartments to house big families or families living with multiple generations under one roof — especially in affordable housing.

“It is about creating stability, opportunity and dignity for individuals and families who call Maplewood home,” Maplewood City Council Member Chonburi Lee said at Juniper’s grand opening Thursday.

The event gave attendees the opportunity to tour some of the building’s apartments, as well as its community room, playground, maker space and fitness center.

The Juniper, at Frost Avenue and English Street, offers nine four-bedroom apartments, 18 with three bedrooms and 23 with two, said Ashley Bisner, vice president of development for JB Vang, the building’s developer.

All units are considered affordable or deeply affordable and are reserved for households making from 30% to 60% of the area median income. Seven apartments are reserved for people with disabilities, and seven have been set aside for families experiencing homelessness.

Bisner said the developer’s market research showed a need for larger apartments. In Maplewood, where roughly 20% of residents identify as Asian, including many Hmong families, that need is clear.

Finding affordable housing for families in need is like searching for a needle in a haystack, said Sara Liegl, director of Project Home, a St. Paul emergency shelter for families. That’s even more true for larger families.

Often, families who need larger apartments are a single parent with several children. Other times, it’s a parent and grandparent living with children. Sometimes, the grandparent can pitch in on childcare. Other times, the grandparent or parent needs family members’ care because of a health issue or disability.

Last year, she said she worked with a family whose grandma moved out of senior living and in with her grandkids and daughter, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

They found an affordable apartment — in Anoka County, far from the St. Paul Public Schools the kids were attending and Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where the mom was receiving cancer treatment.

Last year, she said, about a third of families that moved out of the shelter were families of five or more.

Daniel Narr, the executive director of ICA in Minnetonka, which operates a food shelf and helps families find housing and jobs in the west metro, echoed those concerns and said having to move far away causes major disruptions for kids and families.

“Transportation is a huge issue,” he said. “Even if they wanted to stay in the same school, there’s no way to get those kids back to the school.”

Despite the need, financing affordable housing with larger units can be a challenge for developers.

Data from HousingLink, an affordable housing resource organization, show there are more people searching for three- or more bedroom apartments in the Twin Cities metro on HousingLink than there are listings.

Data from the Minnesota Housing Partnership found in 2018 that just 4% of housing units considered “naturally” affordable — meaning they are not subsidized but attainable for lower-income families — are three-bedrooms and less than 1% are four-bedrooms.

Josh Olson, Ramsey County’s director of community and economic development, said the county recognizes the need for larger units and is working to help finance building and preserving them in both large and small projects.

Last year, Ramsey County put more than $6 million into seven projects that include larger units.

Parr said the Juniper helps complement other housing in Gladstone, an area the city is working to redevelop. Nearby is Oberon, geared toward young professionals, and Frost English Silver, for seniors. Across the street, J.B. Vang is working on the 56-unit Waldo, expected to open in February, which also includes family-oriented affordable units.

Bisner, of J.B. Vang, said Thursday that residents have moved into 14 units at the Juniper. Joy Iverson and her sons were living with Iverson’s daughter and her kids in Roseville until recently, when she was among the first residents to move into the Juniper.

It already feels like home, she said. Her boys, 19 and 8, are loving having their own bedrooms, and she appreciates the thought put into design: there’s space to take off your shoes in the entryway, large washers and dryers in the units and lots of kitchen space.