CONVERGENCE Memphis Brings Affordable Homes to Market for First-Time Buyers
CONVERGENCE Memphis, United Housing, Inc., and the City of Memphis celebrated the development of ten homes in Memphis’ Whitehaven Hills community.
The homes, comprising nine four-bedroom, two-bathroom and one three-bedroom, two-bathroom floorplans, are valued at $200,000, making them affordable for moderate-income, first-time homebuyers.
“Anytime we can bring homes to market, it’s a big occasion. But these homes represent a new type of progress we’re especially excited about,” said Amy Schaftlein, executive director of United Housing, of which CONVERGENCE Memphis is a subsidiary. “The homes on Zodiac Road are earmarked for local homebuyers, use energy-efficiency best practices and fit a specific need in our real estate landscape. People who qualify to buy their first home, but couldn’t find one within the current housing stock, can make a home here in Whitehaven.”
Efforts to diversify and increase affordable housing in Memphis proper is critical to the city’s progress. Construction of starter homes like those on Zodiac have all but ceased within the city’s limits since the real estate market collapsed in 2008. The stock of starter homes–typically smaller houses with more accessible sale prices–are aging, requiring extensive renovation before they’re inhabitable. The cost of those renovations, and the time it takes to make them, precludes many shoppers, further shrinking the pool of available properties and contributing to additional challenges like blight, decreased neighborhood property values and the rise of outside investors flipping properties for rent.
“When we think about housing affordability, our minds first go to the cost of rent and essential housing needs. That’s a critically important part of the equation, but we also need to address the lack of options for people who could have purchased homes in previous markets, but have been squeezed out due to current circumstances,” Schaftlein said.
Learn more about MBA’s CONVERGENCE place-based initiatives here.
