Five communities, including Gainesville, have been approved in the latest round of grants from the state’s Rural Workforce Housing Initiative.
Gov. Brian Kemp made the announcement Thursday. The grants total more than $10.3 million in infrastructure development, supporting nearly 312 housing units across five communities. Gainesville’s share totals $2.5 million.
“We’ve already seen incredible results from our Rural Workforce Housing grants helping Georgians live where they work,” Kemp said. “This latest round of investments will further that impact in rural Georgia as our state sees even more historic opportunity and record economic development. I want to thank the Department of Community Affairs and OneGeorgia Authority board for making these grants available to communities that will benefit from them most.”
The goal of the program is to help spur the development of critically needed workforce housing in communities across the state, according to Kemp’s office.
Gainesville’s share is for drainage infrastructure improvements for the Gainesville Nonprofit Development Foundation and the Norton Agency. The former plans to construct 17-23 single-family homes while the latter will construct 66 rental housing units. The total project cost is $3,839,675 with the city’s share being $1.3 million.
The other grants are headed to the cities of Blackshear, Reidsville and Sylvester and the Development Authority of Bulloch County.