Frayser to advertise affordable housing

An organization that supports the Frayser neighborhood has received a $70,000 grant to tell working families about the affordable houses they could buy there.

The Frayser Community Development Corp. will use the Hyde Family Foundation grant to launch an advertising campaign.

“It’s a marketing campaign for Frayser and Frayser houses and homeownership and the positive concept of that,” said Steve Lockwood, executive director of the Frayser CDC.

“What we’ve had here is a negative atmosphere for a while,” he said.

Working families that may now be paying $700 or more in rent could buy a good house in Frayser for less monthly in mortgage, interest and tax payments, Lockwood said.

For example, Environmental Court gave his organization an abandoned brick home at 1654 Childers. Frayser CDC spent $65,000 renovating it and expects to put it on the market to sell for $66,000 by early next year.

“It’s a really beautiful house, and at $66,000 your mortgage and all your costs would be about $500 a month,” Lockwood said.

The house is so close to Frayser Elementary that the voices of children playing during recess could be heard from the front yard Tuesday afternoon. MLK College Preparatory High School is nearby, too.

“We approved the grant because the Frayser Community Development Corp. is one of the Memphis community development industry’s strongest CDCs, with great leadership and a demonstrated track record,’’ Hyde Family Foundations’ Lauren Taylor said by email Tuesday.

“Our foundation views the proposed project as a pilot that could be replicated by other CDCs and organizations working to improve neighborhoods throughout Memphis,” said Taylor, the foundation’s program director for livable communities.

“We are specifically interested in increasing the population of the urban core, which includes Frayser. The Frayser CDC’s strategy, which will connect qualified buyers with