News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Upper Cumberland Habitat for Humanity closing out West End Place Phase Three with five remaining lots left to develop.
Habitat for Humanity Director of Construction Kevin Mears said they are getting ready to start Phase Four.
“It’s been a great opportunity to bring affordable housing to the community,” Mears said. “And also to establish a neighborhood within the city that can benefit not just those around that live in the community but those that are affected by it as well.”
Mears said some of the obvious impacts are community members who did not have access to affordable housing prior to the Habitat for Humanity program. Mears said those families’ kids will grow up in a safe and affordable home.
Mears said home ownership affords opportunities that you may not have if you are renting or not acquiring equity in the property that you live in. He said West End was an ambitious plan, and a necessary one.
“The need for affordable housing in the Upper Cumberland and Cookeville specifically in Putnam County needs to be addressed,” Mears said. “And the most efficient and cost effective way to do that was to establish a neighborhood that was large enough for us to grow as an organization. But also to serve the community.”
Mears said like everyone else in construction, Habitat had been through a number of challenges to the project including coming out of COVID, supply chain issues, and pricing increases. He said the community had been there throughout this journey helping Habitat get past the various obstacles to develop this 47 home tract.
“Obviously the costs may not come in exactly where we would have liked to have seen them,” Mears said. But with continued support in the community we will still be able to achieve our goals.
Mears said he started with Habitat as a volunteer. He said on a daily basis he gets to do so much good interacting with community, volunteers, and future homeowners.
“To be there with them on those days in the closing period and as they entered their new home,” Mears said. “It was just so enriching and so satisfying.”
