The city of Jackson has been selected for a $450,000 federal grant to support the redevelopment of a low-income housing property.
The Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant is one of only eight awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It will focus on Reed Manor in downtown Jackson, which has almost 300 low-income housing units.
City spokesman Aaron Dimick says Reed Manor is more than 60 years old, and has seen a number of violent incidents in recent years, including shootings.
Dimick says the grant will boost the early stages of the Jackson Housing Commission’s work to improve living conditions.
“That money won’t go directly into building new facilities,” Dimick explained, “but it will help bolster the planning providing new facilities, because we’re really looking at massive improvements to low-income housing in the city of Jackson in the next couple of years.”
Dimick says the planning for what will become of Reed Manor and its residents will take a couple of years and will cost several million dollars. He says this grant could lead to more HUD funding in the future.