LaGRANGE, Ga. (WRBL) – One non-profit in Troup County has just received a grant that could potentially change the lives of several families in the area.
Sandie Pike, the Executive Director for Habitat for Humanity- Troup County Inc., told WRBL that the non-profit received a $1.8 million grant to build 10 new homes in LaGrange.
“The homeless that we are referring to are in LaGrange, just here in LaGrange. There’s so many families that are living in one home but there might be three families represented or three generations in that home; those are the ones that we’re gonna reach out too,” said Pike.
Pike said the organization is hoping to break ground on the project in the next month. The new houses will be featured on Ware St., Render St., and Daniel St. The first phase of homes on Ware St. will be completed in approximately eight months.
Habitat for Humanity is currently accepting applications for some of the homes that will be built with the grant money. Pike said the families will be chosen and identified before the building begins.
Any family selected must go through necessary steps to obtain a home. Those steps include attending budget classes and home ownership classes and putting in home equity hours to help build the home.
“The guidelines that we have in place are to actually bring that homeowner into a homeownership mindset,” said Pike.
Going forward, Pike said she intends to continue submitting grants because she sees a great need in the community. She is focused on a partnership with the Calumet community to revitalize the area that is set to take several years.
“We’re so excited about that partnership because we have a huge plan to totally revamp and restore the homes within the community. We’re building new homes, the park has be established there, it’s a very nice area and we’re going to make that just a really safe place to live,” said Pike.