City, CAA, Habitat Join Forces For Affordable Housing Project

Posted By: Ashley Smith
June 17, 2019 @ 5:04 pm
Local News

Plans for an affordable housing project were unveiled today by the City of Jackson and several community partners.

The City is working with Greater Jackson Habitat for Humanity and Community Action Agency to build 14 new homes for low-to-moderate income families in Partnership Park, a neighborhood south of Downtown Jackson. The plans were announced Monday afternoon at an event attended by dozens of people from the Jackson community. City officials and local leaders talked about the project, which will include four single-family homes and 10 townhomes. The new housing will take shape on the same block in Partnership Park. The townhomes are being built on the 100 block of W. Franklin Street, and the single-family homes are being built on the 100 block of W. Mason Street.

Funding for one of the townhome buildings is coming from the City of Jackson. The City is contributing $600,000 in federal housing funds to construct the first townhome building, which will feature five townhome-style units on W. Franklin Street. The overall cost of the project is $2.5 million, with the rest of the funding coming from Habitat from Humanity and other community partners.

Two of the single-family homes will be built by local young people through a federal program called YouthBuild. The program is administered through the Community Action Agency, and will employ local youth ages 16 to 24 who are looking to gain skilled trades in the construction industry. The goal of the project is to provide affordable homeownership for low-to-moderate income families in Jackson.

Mayor Derek Dobies spoke at the event. He says after years of demolishing unsafe and dilapidated housing in Jackson, the City is now looking forward to building up neighborhoods. “People have the right to live in safe, clean and affordable housing no matter what their income level is. This project helps us work toward that right in the City of Jackson. I am so thankful to see the City work with our community partners on this project,” Mayor Dobies said.

Work is set to begin on one townhome building and two single-family homes this fall. The first round of buildings are expected to be complete in summer 2020.