MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It was a celebration in Orange Mound Tuesday afternoon as City of Memphis officials announced a new affordable housing project to be built off Semmes Street and Douglass Avenue.
The project is a small piece in solving a much larger challenge - with an estimated tens of thousands of new affordable units needed in the Bluff City.
The project is spearheaded by The City of Memphis Division of Housing and Community Development, United Housing and My Cup of Tea.
"We know that homeownership is at the core of one of the significant needs in our community," Mayor Paul Young said. "It stabilizes neighborhoods. It stabilizes communities.”
The four homes being built on the land donated by My Cup of Tea will cost when completed between $85,000 to $120,000.
Young tells ABC24 with the metro area having a deficit of more than 38,000 affordable housing units, tens of thousands of Memphians quite literally can’t afford to live in a quality home.
“What that means is that there are 38,000 households in our communities that can’t afford the homes that they live in,” Young said.
Each single story home will have three bedrooms and two bathrooms, with at least one bathroom designed to meet ADA standards.
“It’s exciting to know that it can be done even in Orange Mound Tennessee wherever you live in the community you deserve to be able to have housing," Memphis City Councilwoman Janice Swearengen Washington said.
While more projects like this are in the works, Congressman Steve Cohen says every Memphian should be afforded the opportunity to live comfortably in a quality affordable home.
“People need the opportunity to have a house," Cohen said. "It means so much to a family. It means so much to an individual to have a place that is steady and is permanent.
Construction on the four homes begins immediately and will be completed by next August.