Berkeley County is taking a big step towards more affordable housing as crews are set to break ground on a new project.
The plan aims to give additional, affordable options to multiple families in the Moncks Corner area.
The county is partnering with Habitat for Humanity for the project, an organization that has been working for years to give homes to Lowcountry families in desperate need of housing.
After almost six years of work, the organization secured one of its biggest partnerships yet with Berkeley County to turn land on Wall Street, just a half mile down the road from Berkeley Middle School, into a complex with houses for over five families.
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Habitat for Humanity of Berkeley County received $200,000 in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) from Berkeley County for the project.
The project will build a complex that can house five to seven families in the Moncks Corner area, and those families will have mortgage payments of just over $500 a month.
With housing prices in Berkeley County increasing by over 17 percent in the past year, officials with Habitat for Humanity say it was important to give residents a more affordable opportunity to stay in their community.
“It's just not manageable, sustainable. So, there is a crisis. The homes that we're doing, they will help in Berkeley County, but it's just a drop in the bucket. We have 30-plus people moving to this area every day. So, we have a lot of work to do. But the partnership and collaboration with Supervisor [Johnny] Cribb and the county is going to go a long way to making a huge difference in affordable housing,” President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Berkeley County George Druyos said.
But Druyos added that this is just the first step in a bigger plan to bring more affordable housing to the area. Before this partnership, Druyos said Habitat for Humanity only had the resources to build enough for one home or one family at a time.
Now, officials say this partnership will allow for much more opportunities for affordable housing in the community at a quicker pace in hopes to change the housing landscape in the area for the future.
In just two months, the partnership will break ground on another project in Goose Creek, which will give nine families a more affordable housing option in the area that they live. This project comes from a $300,000 CDBG grant, bringing the total to $500,000 in total money to Habitat for Humanity for Berkeley County from the county.
Officials said this will open doors for families to stay right in their backyard like never before.
“It gives us exposure to people that we might not have been exposed to without it. So, the larger the project you can handle, the larger the funding you can manage, the more impact you make. The more people want to be involved. And that's been kind of the struggle for [Habitat for Humanity] for years,” Druyos said. “So, we're excited about getting out there in front of those folks and letting them see what a private-public partnership looks like, and getting some houses in the ground for the folks that need it.”
The closest in scale to these projects was one Berkeley County helped with from 2012 to 2014, in which Druyos said they were able to build around two homes. But he did add this will be the organization's largest to date.
The official groundbreaking for the complex in Moncks Corner will be happen at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.
Sewer and water work will begin in the coming weeks, with construction on the houses expected to start by the end of July. The first family is expected to move in by the beginning of 2023.