Mobile organization holds groundbreaking for affordable homes
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — Patricia Harris is thankful that she’s getting a new home thanks to a local organization dedicated to helping those with lower incomes become homeowners.
New Life Ministries Church donated $150,000 to the Martin Luther King Avenue Renovation Corporation to help Patricia Harris become a homeowner.
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“It makes me feel wonderful,” Harris said. “I just thank God for this opportunity also.”
The Martin Luther King Avenue Renovation Corporation coordinated this and helped build 149 homes in Mobile and counting.
“We have a lot of individuals that are not in the high price range and maybe not in our, you know, lower price range,” MLK Avenue Renovation Corporation Executive Director Daphne Pierce said. “But you have people in the middle that missed the gap. And so that ties in that middle gap the affordable near to low to moderate individuals.”
That kind of boost is essential to help minority communities. According to a 2023 study from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, Black Americans have the lowest homeownership rate in the United States.
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Addressing that disparity motivates leaders like Darrell Randle with Mobile Chamber to continue working with the group.
“It really does great things in the community by helping individuals get home ownership, of course, is extremely important, especially in the black community,” Randle explained. “Where we’re making sure that we build wealth. And that’s part of what I do with the mobile chamber in the way of Commerce building wealth, but this is personal wealth.”
He added that it is important to own your home as it puts families on the path to generational success.
“It really is a pathway to building wealth,” Randle explained. “When I, you know, pass on, I leave something to my children, then all of a sudden, they have something that they can build on and maybe even leave for their children.”
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Construction of Patricia’s home is expected to be finished by the end of October, an answer to her prayers.
“I’m thankful to God, and I’m hoping and praying other people to come on out and also try to get one of these, the MLK houses,” she said. “This is a good opportunity, and this is a blessing for me.”
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