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Town and county officials are looking for ways to cut a $31.5 million deficit so the future affordable housing development at 90 Virginian Lane will be accessible to locals.
Town councilors and county commissioners opted last week to slash an onsite parking garage, reducing the amount needed by a third. That still leaves about $20 million to find.
Now the elected officials are pursuing other funding sources, though no official plan has been made quite yet.
County Commissioner Luther Propst was confident that the shortfall would be resolved.
“Everyone knows, we’re in the wealthiest county per capita in the country and we should be able to find some money,” he said during a May 8 meeting of councilors and commissioners.
Despite the miscalculation, the project for upwards of 226 homes is still slated for a 2026 groundbreaking and has moved smoothly until now. The town and county bought the five acres across from the Jackson library in 2023 for $28 million.
National developer Pennrose LLC found the miscalculation after conducting a market study of the region’s rents. It showed that the planned rates would not be attainable for its target renters, prompting Pennrose to suggest lowering them.
Instead of choosing to live in town, a qualifying renter or family making between 120% and 160% of the area’s median income would choose instead to commute into town to pay lower rent.
“The concern is that there may be a tipping point,” said April Norton, the housing director overseeing the project.
Because of its findings, the study suggested rates should be lowered to the 115% median income rental rates without changing who qualifies.
“It essentially reduces the amount of revenue that we can generate on the rental homes and the amount of equity we can raise for the development,” Norton said.
Some elected officials, including Propst, expressed concern that dipping into local philanthropy could compete with other affordable housing organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity or the Community Housing Trust.
Norton also acknowledged that concern.
“The fear is that if we go after some of the same donors, then we’re perhaps reducing the amount of money that they can raise for their developments and thereby reducing the number of homes that can come online in a given time period,” Norton said.
For that reason, the elected officials are likely not looking to philanthropy first, but more as a last resort.
Norton doesn’t think the new funding needs will delay groundbreaking, which is still slated for 2026.
At the May 8 meeting, the elected officials approved a motion to spend $250,000 on an in-depth design with Pennrose, who will match dollar-for-dollar.
