Athens City Council has heard a plan for eight new single-family homes near the southern end of Hudson Avenue, in a public hearing and staff presentation on a planned unit development supported by a $2 million Welcome Home Ohio grant.
Under the plan presented to council, the eight homes would be priced around $180,000, carry resale restrictions intended to keep them affordable, and include at least one ADA-accessible unit. Habitat for Humanity and the mayor expressed support for the proposal during the hearing, according to the meeting summary.
The money behind the project comes from Welcome Home Ohio, a state program run through the Ohio Department of Development that helps communities purchase property and build or rehabilitate homes that are sold to income-qualified, owner-occupant buyers. Athens secured about $2 million through the program for an initial phase of owner-occupied housing.
The Hudson Avenue site has been in the city’s plans for some time. City staff previously identified a decommissioned garage and impound parcel on Hudson Avenue, in the middle of a residential area, as a target for the grant, with talks about an adjacent parcel that could allow the project to grow in later phases.
Housing cost is the backdrop for the whole effort. Athens, a university city in Athens County, has long faced a shortage of homes priced within reach of working households, and earlier phases of the Welcome Home Ohio discussion in the city contemplated construction costs well above the eventual sale prices — which is exactly the gap the state grant is meant to close.
The hearing was a step in the approval process, not a final construction decision. Planned unit developments require council action, and the presentation gave residents and council members a chance to hear the layout, pricing and restrictions before any vote to move the project forward.
If the Hudson Avenue development proceeds, the sale proceeds from the first homes are expected to be reinvested to continue building — the revolving model the city has discussed for the program — with the first eight homes serving as the test of whether Athens can keep producing owner-occupied homes at prices local buyers can afford.
Photo: Kgacs, CC BY-SA 4.0