The Macon Area Habitat for Humanity will build 14 affordable homes in Macon-Bibb County with investments from Macon-Bibb County’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and a matching grant from a local foundation.

Media and community members are invited to a press conference to announce the local match for those funds on Friday, July 1 at 10:00am in Commission Chambers at City Hall (700 Poplar Street). We will livestream the press conference here on the Macon-Bibb County Facebook page.

Mayor Lester Miller and the Commission recently approved $500,000 of American Rescue Plan funding for Macon Habitat to offer low-income families access to homeownership, taking the Blight Fight initiative to the next step of stabilizing neighborhoods. Habitat will use these funds to construct eight homes immediately and six homes long-term. Several homeowners have already been approved for homeownership and are eagerly waiting for construction to start this fall. The mortgage payments from those 14 homes will provide funding for construction projects for years to come.

“Building these homes on property that has been cleared of blight and is tax delinquent will continue the work of the Blight Fight, and these investments will allow the properties to be owner occupied and return to the Macon-Bibb County tax rolls,” says Macon Area Habitat for Humanity’s Executive Director, Ivey Hall.
According to research conducted by Habitat for Humanity International, one in seven Georgia families spends 50% or more of their income on housing. In Macon-Bibb County recent census data indicates that the homeownership rate is 51%. This rate is below Georgia’s average rate of 63%.

“Attacking blight is more than just tearing down dangerous structures…it’s about stabilizing and strengthening our neighborhoods,” says Mayor Miller. “By working with partners like Habitat for Humanity, we can create something good out of something ugly and dangerous, and more importantly, we can help our neighbors become homeowners.”

Macon Habitat’s mission serves to increase the homeownership rate and stabilize communities by offering safe and affordable housing. Construction for the immediate eight homes will be focused in Lynmore Estates and Napier Heights. The homes will be energy efficient 3-bedroom or 2-bathroom houses and sold to future homeowners with a 20 year, 0% interest mortgage. In the last 35 years, Macon Habitat has helped 130 families become first-time homeowners and will continue to offer more homeownership opportunities.
The Macon-Bibb County Board of Commissioners voted on final approval of the $500,000 in ARPA funds on Tuesday, June 7. The proposal passed the Committee of the Whole unanimously and then passed during the Commission meeting later that evening.