MEMPHIS, TN - Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis President and CEO Dwayne Spencer also encouraged Trinity Park homeowners to show up in Environmental Court whenever Somerset was on the docket.

“They have gone down there probably three dozen times… hoping to raise their voices,” Spencer said. “We’re hopeful their presence mattered because they weren’t able to speak or say anything, but they were present to say 'we would like to see these buildings come down because they are having a negative impact on our lives and on our property values.'”

Habitat exclusively builds homes for owners, but Spencer said he is not against mixing owned homes with rented ones.

“As long as we can do it in a joint effort, it should be amazing,” he said. The new effort towards an old challenge also comes with a familiar issue.

“There has to be more dedicated funding to housing,” Rasheedah Jones, a community developer with the Black Housing Coalition, told Shelby County commissioners during a May 14 committee discussion.

That includes funding for financial counseling as well as public subsidies to bridge the gap between the property value and the cost.

“In order to get affordable housing, you have to offer a unit at a cost that is lower than what it takes to build it, which means you need subsidies,” said Young [Memphis Mayor Paul Young], who was the city’s director of Housing and Community Development before being elected mayor in 2023.

Read the full story on the Daily Memphian website. 

 

 

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis is actively working to remove blight and build brighter futures across the 901. Click here to read more about how Memphis Habitat is demolishing blighted properties.