Plans are back on track for a $10 million mixed-income housing project along the Codorus Creek in York City.

After years of trying, the York Housing Authority got word last week that its application for $1.16 million in tax-credit funding has been approved by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.

"It took us the third application to succeed," said Craig Zumbrun, the authority's deputy director.

Now, all funding for the Homes at Thackston Park is in place, Zumbrun said. He said construction could start before the end of the year after several months of fine-tuning plans and securing land-development approvals.

Other funding sources include Community Development Block Grant funds and contributions from other nonprofits.

The plan is to turn Helen Thackston Memorial Park into a 39-home rental housing development and to demolish 28 units of the nearby Codorus Homes complex, part of which is sinking into the ground. That area will be transformed into a new creekside park owned by the city, which agreed to the land swap in 2009.

The Homes at Thackston Park will be available to tenants who earn up to 60 percent of the county's median income.

Because some current residents of Codorus Homes will likely apply to be tenants, the new units will be built before the old ones are demolished, Zumbrun said.

Completion of both construction and demolition is expected to take about a year, he said.

Planning for the project began about five years ago and included significant community input. About 500 people participated in a workshop designed to build consensus among neighborhood residents on the scope of the project, Zumbrun said.

- Reach Erin James at 505-5439 or ejames@yorkdispatch.com or on Twitter @ydcity.