Two years after neighbors helped kill a plan for low-income senior housing on Laguna Honda Boulevard, the city is giving it another shot.

And this time the proposal seems to have enough political juice to actually happen.

The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development is looking for an affordable-housing developer to build about 250 apartments for low-income seniors on a city-owned parking lot next to Laguna Honda Hospital. The development would include units for independent seniors, as well as apartments for those requiring more assistance. It would also incorporate a drop-in health center for adults and a child care facility.

The project would rise across the street from the Laguna Honda Boulevard site where Forest Hill residents successfully torpedoed a similar affordable senior development two years ago. That proposal, on property owned by the Forest Hill Christian Church, would have allowed 150 apartments for low-income residents.

But residents complained that building on the site, down a steep hillside from the expensive Forest Hill enclave, could jeopardize the stability of the homes perched above. An engineering report backed up the neighbors’ concerns, concluding that the hillside would have had to be strengthened to prevent the destabilization of the sandy slope. Some residents also complained that the project would block views and increase crime.

Forest Hill resident Joe Bravo, an attorney who led the effort against the Christian Church project, called the new Laguna Honda proposal “a much better concept.”

“That is where I think it belongs — on a level surface, not on a hill,” he said. “That is a proper place for it and a proper use of land at Laguna Honda Hospital. It’s less isolated than the other project would have been. It’s consistent with what we were saying when we opposed” the Christian Church development.

Mayor London Breed called the Laguna Honda proposal “a great opportunity to use public land to build affordable housing for seniors, who we know are vulnerable to the rising cost of living and are at increased risk of falling into homelessness.”

Breed said such housing belongs “not just in some neighborhoods, but everywhere.”

“If everyone steps up to support housing in their neighborhood, then we can make a real difference,” she said.

The oval-shaped lot was previously used for construction parking and storage during the recent $585 million renovation of the Laguna Honda Hospital campus. The site is bound by Clarendon Avenue to the north, Woodside Avenue to the south, Laguna Honda Hospital high-rise buildings to the east, and Laguna Honda Boulevard to the west.

Supervisor Norman Yee, who withdrew his support for the Christian Homes project because of neighborhood opposition, said that he has been working with residents to make sure concerns are addressed early in the process. Nonprofit developers have until Jan. 23 to respond to a request for proposals for the project.

“I’ve been surprised there has been almost no pushback,” Yee said. “Some of the neighbors have been asking for even more units.”

The need for senior-specific affordable housing is grave, Yee said. He cited a city study indicating that 50% of newly homeless residents are 62 or older; adults become eligible for affordable housing at age 62.

He said constituents increasingly complain of not being able to find senior housing options in the city, especially affordable ones. Older people move out of the city, but the farther they go, the less likely their family members will be able to visit them frequently, Yee said.

“They lose their network, their community,” he said.

Over the next five years, the Bay Area expects to see a 14% increase in adults older than 75 and there will be a shortage of 9,000 senior homes, according to Aegis Living, a senior housing developer.

San Francisco has two senior housing developments opening in 2020: 94 units of low-income housing open this month at 1296 Shotwell St. in the Mission, and the 190-unit Campus for Jewish Living on Silver Avenue in the Excelsior is scheduled for occupancy in the spring.

Rents at the Campus for Jewish Living will start at $5,400 a month and rise to $12,000 a month for a 1,200-square-foot penthouse. That fee includes three meals a day as well as transportation, housekeeping and extensive health and wellness programs. About 90% of the 110 assisted-living units there have been reserved; the developer has not yet started marketing the 80 memory care units.

”We have done extremely well,” said Staci Chang, who is heading up marketing for the project. “There is a high need for age in place, rental senior housing. It’s been 20 years since one opened in San Francisco.”

Rents at the Laguna Honda project would be set at limits affordable to seniors with incomes between $25,850 and $68,950, with additional subsidies available for residents with extremely low incomes.

Aegis Living President Kris Engskov said his group is looking for development sites in San Francisco.

“We think the city has a great need for senior housing,” he said. “Older people want to be in these urban areas. They have grown up in the cities and don’t think they should have to compromise. Quite the opposite.”

While intent of the development is to house low-income seniors, Yee pushed the city to make sure the Laguna Honda project has a preschool for children in addition to housing for those in the twilight of their lives. “You see these frail old folks — they just light up when they see the little kids running around,” he said.

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen