The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ossoff, Warnock secure funds for affordable housing
Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity building eight more houses in the area.
Tanjills Sawyer finally has a house her family can call home, thanks to Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity and a little help from Washington, D.C.
After years of struggling to pay rent on an apartment that cost $100 more every time she renewed her lease, the DeKalb County Schools bus driver will soon move into a new three-bedroom house in Lovejoy that she hopes will one day be full of grandchildren.
“I have two children and someday I’m going to have grandchildren,” Sawyer said.
“We will always have a home.” Sawyer’s home is part of a 28-house Habitat development called Hannah Springs that is getting a $500,000 funding boost from the federal government.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., announced Monday that he and fellow Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock secured the funding to help Habitat make it easier for individuals and families find affordable housing.
“Tanjills, you are what this is all about,” Ossoff told the first-time homebuyer. “Tanjills has purchased this home. And she can purchase this home because it is made affordable by the great work of Habitat for Humanity with all of Habitats partners, at every level of government and in philanthropy and in the business community.”
The announcement comes as Southern Crescent Habitat reported that one in seven Georgia households spends more than half of their income on housing. The state has a shortage of almost 138,000 houses relative to demand, the group said.
Southern Crescent is in the process of building eight more houses in the area and assisting in the home repair of 15 others, said Cynthia Jenkins, the organization’s CEO. She said that will lead to more stabilization in the community, both financially and for neighborhood sociability.
“Over the last 38 years, Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity has built more than five neighborhoods in Fayette, Clayton and Henry counties,” she said. “We are a small but mighty team.”
Lovejoy Mayor Marci Fluellyn said the city had to be flexible on some of its zoning to make the project happen. That included providing the space for houses with smaller footprints and relaxing rules, such as requiring a new home to have a garage or a storage shed.
“A garage and a storage shed is not a home,” she said. “We don’t want that to limit us from providing a home to someone who needs one.”