COMMUNITY HOUSING
Jones County’s Housing Committee has been at work for more than two decades, but more members are needed to face the challenges ahead.
The committee held its quarterly meeting July 28 with only five members in attendance. The committee is also in search of a new chairman after the previous chairman, Donald Black, stepped down from the position in April.
Black chaired the committee since 2009.
Affordable housing has been a focus of the committee, and the lack of affordable housing in Jones County and Gray continues to be a growing challenge. The construction of homes has increased, but the prices of those homes put them out of reach for many families.
In addition, rental properties are difficult to find.
The Jones County/Gray Housing Committee lost its Georgia Initiative on Community Housing status this year for the first time since 2009.
Since the GICH designation was received, every Community Block Development Grant and Community Housing Improvement Grant application by the city and county has gotten an additional point for being a GICH Community. One point may seem like a small thing but makes a big difference due to the competitiveness of the grants.
Low-Income Housing Tax Credits is another program the Gray/Jones County Community will no longer be eligible to utilize.
Black said the team fell short in one category, which was the number of team members attending continuing education in 2021. Four team members are required to attend training, and the local committee had two.
The good news is that Jones County does not have to start over and can be recertified in 2024 as long as the continued education requirement is met this year, without restarting the process. The benchmark was met in 2022.
It is also time to update the Jones County/Gray housing plan that was updated in 2021. That plan includes blight reduction, homeowner rehabilitation and housing education.
Joy Carr has agreed to help with handling communication and record gathering until a chairman is found.
Black and Jones County Code Enforcement Officer Tiffany Davis gave reports about Vacant Property Training from the Center for Community Training they recently attended. Black said he found the program interesting, and before he knew it, he had taken several pages of notes.
“Some of the good points were to know what you are talking about, create a property inventory and know your territory,” he said.
Black said the training was time well spent.
Carr asked about the Keep Jones Beautiful position. County Administrator Jason Rizner said the position is still open, and there has been conversation about added those duties to those of Jones County/Gray Chamber of Commerce Director.
Both positions are considered part-time. He said that idea would be discussed in the next Board of Commissioners meeting.
Dean Nelson with the Middle Georgia Regional Commission is working on the $400,000 Community Housing Improvement Program Grant received by the county in January. Rizner said the county has received a lot of calls of interest in the grant.
Instructions of who is eligible for the funds and how to apply will be announced soon.
Committee members discussed how to get more interest in the housing meetings, especially from city and county elected officials. At the conclusion of the discussion, it was agreed to bring the topic to the next joint meeting of city, county and Board of Education elected officials.
The date of that meeting was tentatively set for Sept. 28 with the time and location to be announced.
