The Tioga Family Center at 1822-26 W. Tioga Street. The color palette and mix of materials used are meant to reflect the architecture of the neighborhood.

It’s an atypical affordable housing project in more ways that one

One of the memories Michael Harle has growing up in Tioga include sitting on the stoop next to 18th and W. Tioga streets. He’d watch as his friends and neighbors battled addiction, struggling to break what seemed like a never-ending cycle.

“We have to do something about this,” Harle recalls saying to his friend Troy.

Today, the corner Harle and Troy remember as a drug-ravaged street is now the home of the Tioga Family Center, an affordable and supportive housing community for low-income women who are in the process of recovery from addiction and their children. The center celebrated its grand opening Wednesday morning after more than a year of construction, though the process took nearly 10 years and involved a long list of funders.

It’s run by Gaudenzia, where Harle is now the president and CEO. The organization runs various facilities throughout the Philadelphia region that help men, women, and families affected by drug and alcohol dependency, mental illness with recovery.

Designed by Cecil Baker + Partners, Tioga Family Center is a four-story building that houses 24 apartments, a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units. Families pay for rent based on a certain percentage of their income.