Sometimes when Nelson Fernandez walks his pug, Ninja, he runs into people touring Station House, the new solar-powered townhomes between 14th and 16th streets in West Oakland.

If they chat him up, the conversation usually doesn’t end without them asking a question that’s become familiar: Is it safe to live there?

Yes, it’s safe to live in West Oakland.

“I’ve never had a negative experience in this neighborhood,” Fernandez told me.

Fernandez moved to West Oakland more than a decade ago, long before it shed its reputation as an impoverished and crime-infested area, and long before it became a hot spot for people seeking affordable homes to buy and budget-friendly places to rent without having to leave the Bay Area.

I recently visited the Station House townhome Fernandez bought with his husband, Nick Williams, and their 15-month-old son, Rio. They moved in in February.

As Williams, who teaches third grade at Cragmont Elementary School in Berkeley, made angel hair pasta with cherry tomatoes, spinach, garlic and sausage for dinner, Rio galloped across the floor. He was hungry.

“Oh, buddy, it’s almost ready. Chill out,” Williams, 34, said to Rio.

There’s a safety gate at each landing of the couple’s three-bedroom, three-story condo. From the master bedroom’s balcony, you can see San Francisco’s skyline on clear nights.

In Station House’s core development, 166 of 171 homes had been sold as of Monday, according to Phil Kerr, the CEO of urban developers City Ventures. The company is building 47 more homes along Frontage Road in the development dubbed Station House South. Even though the neighborhood lacks a grocery store, shops or bars, the proximity to highways and public transportation makes it an alluring place to live.

Station House homes start at around $700,000 — and that’s considered a deal for people who want to own property in Oakland, where Victorians sell for north of $1 million.

West Oakland was an area of the city where people lived because they couldn’t afford anywhere else. Now an affordable home there surpasses the median price of $648,000 for a home in Oakland.

It’s facts like these that make people like Fernandez and Williams think about their impact on other Oakland dwellers. Some new residents think about whether they’re displacing someone else.

Tom Croxton, another Station House resident, says that when he chose to buy a two-bedroom townhome, the idea that Station House was built on an empty plot of land was a deciding factor.

“I didn’t feel like I was displacing somebody, which kind of weighed into my decision,” he said. “I hate the idea of displacing people. If you want to live here, I don’t think we should be pushing people out.”

Even though Station House was built on unused land, Fernandez acknowledged that the jump in costs to buy a home are linked to the jump in rental prices.

“In that way, it’s displacing people,” Fernandez, 40, said. “I’m aware of all that, so I’m conflicted about it.”

I asked Fernandez and Williams about gentrification. What role have they played in the transformation of West Oakland that has caused property values to rise while displacing low-income families?

“We’ve been here for a while, so there’s been a lot of thought behind it,” said Fernandez, a visual designer who works in San Francisco. “I kind of got pushed out of San Francisco, because it just got too expensive.”

When the couple looked into buying their first home together, they found West Oakland affordable. The couple’s last home was at Zephyr Gate, townhomes a four-minute walk away.

For Fernandez and Williams, West Oakland is where they feel comfortable.

It’s where they feel safe.

“We’re a gay family, so it’s not like I feel safe living anywhere else,” Fernandez said. “And so that’s kind of how I viewed it.”

Fernandez and Williams have one of the handful of townhomes that have a backyard. They’ve put down concrete pavers, put up a dartboard and planted succulents. There’s also deck seating and a table, a splendid space for parties.

“That was one of the biggest selling points for us, and we just spend a lot of time with our friends drinking wine, hanging out,” Fernandez said.

“It was just mulch when we moved in,” Williams said.

Another selling point: there was no bidding war. The price was $799,000.

“I was afraid that if we put our house up for sale, we would be looking for a house for years and keep getting outbid,” Fernandez said. “The price was the price.”

As we walked back inside, Rio scampered inside Ninja’s crate and splashed his hands in the dog’s bowl.

“That’s the third time he’s done that today,” Williams said as he scooped up Rio, who clapped his wet hands.

Safe to say it was time for dinner.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor Jr. appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr