By Alyssa Schnugg
Staff writer
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com
Two planned housing developments will offer an affordable option for homes to Oxford’s workforce – at least for the next 15 years.
On Thursday, LOU-Home held an informational meeting at the Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library, where about 60 people gathered in the auditorium to learn more about the Belle Rivers and Eastover developments.
The Belle Rivers development will be located off Slack Road behind Kroger. The Eastover development will be located just south of Oxford High School near the Sisk Avenue Extension currently under development.
Each development will have 48 units, most of which will be townhouses with adjoining residences per building.
The homes will be 1,400-square feet with three bedrooms and two and a half baths with two-car garages. Each community will have a shared community building.
Construction is expected to start this fall with lease sign-up in the summer of 2019.
The leases are renewed annually and rent is expected to be about $689 a month.
In 2034, tenants living in the developments will have the option to purchase the home. Their rent payments will be deducted from the sale price. For example, if a tenant has lived in the unit for 15 years, they will have paid $126,000 in rent. That amount will be applied to the purchase price that will be determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
After residents have been offered the units, those units not purchased will then be put up for sale to the general public and will no longer be restricted to income levels.
The units will be only available for people who make 60 percent of the area median income. In Lafayette County, the median income is currently $43,000.
A single person cannot make more than $27,660 to be eligible for one of the units. A family of four cannot make more than $39,480; however, those figures could increase slightly over the next year if the median income in Lafayette County increases.
Resident De’Andre Patrick attended part of the meeting but left early. He said he made too much to qualify for one of the units.
“But it’s a good thing for those who qualify,” he said. “They have all this student housing here. I’m glad to see them doing something for the people who aren’t students. Ole Miss is driving up all the prices and rents in Oxford.”
While leases are renewed annually, an increase in a tenant’s salary will not affect their ability to continue to rent the townhouse.
“It’s meant to encourage personal growth,” said LOU-Home director Fred Laurenzo. “They will be grandfathered in.”
Those wishing to apply for a unit will undergo background checks and will need to provide proof of income, prior rental history going back at least two years, birth certificates for minors, social security cards and photo identification. Applicants will also need to have good credit, and show an ability to pay their bills on time.
During the meeting, LOU-Home board member NeKici Ruffin shared information about how to improve credit scores, what things can impact credit scores and why people should avoid high-interest credit cards and paycheck advance loans.
“We aim to help and encourage and support people becoming good homeowners and help give you the skills and knowledge to do that,” said Kathy Sukanek, LOU-Home board president.
LOU-Home offers free counseling, credit and money management counseling throughout the year.
The developments aimed at providing workforce housing to Oxonians were made possible after the public-private partnership between LOU-Home and developer Stewart Rutledge was awarded $15 million in housing credits last year in competitive funding.
LOU-Home, Inc., a private housing advocacy nonprofit, is one of the lead developers of the planned communities, and its proposal overcame funding gaps by layering traditional bank lending with the federal housing tax credits.
For more information, contact nekici@louhome.org.
