August 8, 2022
The City of Lawrence is donating 4.64 acres of city-owned land to Tenants to Homeowners, Inc. for use in developing affordable housing units. The land, located at the corner of K-10 highway and Bob Billings Parkway, is directly adjacent to a parcel of land that Tenants to Homeowners already owns.
Tenants to Homeowners plans to build 78 affordable housing units on the donated land and 44 units on the land they already owned, creating a total of 122 new affordable housing units – with 236 total bedrooms – on the combined parcel. Of the new units, they plan to have 110 rentals and 12 for ownership.
“Our goal is that anyone who sees this development will think of it not as affordable housing, but rather as a well-designed community that serves people with different housing needs, of different generations, and with different income levels,” said Rebecca Buford, executive director, Tenants to Homeowners. “Our community builds strength in our neighborhoods, and our best neighborhoods are robust and strong because they have a mixture of housing options that support a diverse population of people living within them.”
In 2019, the City of Lawrence set a five-year goal to fund the development of 200 new affordable housing units through the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. With this donation of City land, the City has provided support for building 233 new affordable housing units since 2019, exceeding the goal in less than five years.
“Affordable housing is one of our biggest priorities at the City of Lawrence and we are thrilled to announce the progress we are making in this area,” said Lea Roselyn, affordable housing administrator, City of Lawrence. “Our commitment to affordable housing is real, and we look forward to continuing this work with the help of our community partners.”
One of the priorities of affordable housing initiatives in Lawrence has been ensuring there is scattered affordable housing sites across the City. This new development at K-10 and Bob Billings Parkway will be the first large-scale affordable housing development in West Lawrence, which will increase neighborhood diversity and allow for greater housing and neighborhood choice for all residents regardless of income.
The 2022 appraised value of the donated land is $374,430. Tenants to Homeowners plans to begin dirt work in 2023 with infrastructure and construction to occur in 2024-2025.
Contact: Porter Arneill, director of communications and creative resources, parneill@lawrenceks.org