For many, owning a home is part of the “American Dream”. Annalez McCall and her two sons were able to achieve this goal last month. Annalez purchased a new 3 bedroom house from the Community Housing Association of Dodge City (CHAD) in August 2020.
This new build was a product of the Abandoned Housing Program operated by CHAD. CHAD partners with the Dodge City Community College (DCCC) Building Construction Technology Program to build a new home every year. Funding for the new build was provided by a Moderate Income Housing Grant from Kansas Housing.
“I never dreamed we would be able to find a beautiful new three-bedroom home in our price range” said Annalez McCall. “The boys are both excited about getting a dog as well as having their very own rooms, especially my oldest son who was diagnosed with Autism when he was two”.
Homeownership conveys multiple benefits including the ability to accumulate wealth and access credit by building home equity, long-term savings over the cost of renting, pride of ownership, improved stability and increased community involvement. The Abandoned Housing Program was created to address the housing shortage by creating new home ownership units in the moderate-income price range. “Partnering with DC3 and Kansas Housing to create additional housing has proved to be very effective” said Mollea Wainscott, Assistant Director of Economic Development. “The students show great pride in their work and the buyers receive a high-quality new home for an affordable price.”
The Abandoned Housing Program acquires vacant homes throughout the community, rehabilitates the homes, and places them back into service as quality housing. The program also partners with the DCCC Building Construction Technology Program to build new construction as infill on vacant lots. The building of new homes aligns with the college curriculum. Every new build is located on a vacant lot in an existing blighted neighborhood. Each new build is creating affordable housing, teaching our future workforce and cleaning up blighted neighborhoods.
For more information contact Mollea Wainscott with the Dodge City/Ford County Development Corporation, at 620-371-3869 or molleaw@dodgedev.org.