Macon Charter Academy demolished for affordable housing
Macon housing authority CEO Mike Austin says a project like this will help improve a major problem within the city: homelessness.
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The former Macon Charter Academy building came down Tuesday as part of a $19 million project to bring 64 new affordable housing units to Macon’s Pleasant Hill neighborhood, a long-awaited investment in an area leaders say has been neglected for generations.
Macon Housing Authority CEO Mike Austin says a project like this, at the corner of Walnut and Madison Streets, will help improve a major problem within the city: homelessness.
“Waiting list for affordable housing is very long, and so it really makes it difficult for people to afford good affordable housing,” he said. “As we know, homelessness is a challenge, and so the more affordable housing we can build, the better chance we have of putting a dent in our homeless challenge right now.”
Austin says the cost of living is high these days, and that’s why it’s important to take on projects like this.
“This will be 64 units, between 1-3 bedrooms, so it will be a nice mix of bedroom sizes, and the rent of course will be affordable for workforce housing here in Macon-Bibb, so we’re just really excited about it,” he said.
Macon-Bibb District 5 Commissioner Seth Clark says the community came together to make this possible.
“This is the product of a generation of community engagement, and this is the product of this neighborhood telling the people that represent them what needs to happen in this community,” he said. “What we heard was we needed affordable housing for the people that live here, we heard they need revitalized space and economic and commercial opportunity.”
Clark says the historic Pleasant Hill Neighborhood has been in neglect for many years, and this will help bring the positive change it needs to thrive.
“The $19 million investment of course will have street level stabilization in Pleasant Hill that’s been generationally needed, but we’re also making a statement that Pleasant Hill’s worth it,” he said.
Leaders say the housing will be income restricted to limits set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and more mixed income housing is coming in the near future.
