HUD AWARDS $650,000 TO EXPAND AFFORDABLE HOUSING TO REVITALIZED DOWNTOWN AREA OF HAWKINSVILLE, GEORGIA
Six small towns receive $5.5 million to include affordable housing to "Main Street" revitalization

ATLANTA - The downtown area of Hawkinsville, Georgia will get a housing makeover due to a $650,000 grant announced today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The funding is designed to expand
the production of affordable housing to the rural community's historic central business district or "Main Street" area.

HUD Southeast Regional Administrator Edward Jennings, Jr., said that Hawkinsville is among six communities with populations less than 50,000 that will receive funding under HUD's HOPE VI Main Street program to encourage affordable housing production in their city centers.

"Raising capital to build affordable housing can be a challenge when small towns give their downtowns a facelift,"
said HUD Southeast Regional Administrator Edward Jennings, Jr. "This funding will provide Hawkinsville the tools it needs to create affordable housing for lower income families so they can share in the broader revitalization of their downtown."

The city will reconfigure the former Pillowtex Mill to create Phase I of Cotton Mill Lofts, a 26 unit affordable housing development. This first phase will consist of 11 affordable units. Although most of the old cotton mill will be reconfigured into loft-style affordable rental apartments, a portion of the mill will be developed into a Community Market that will be located next to new housing.

These grants are issued through HUD's HOPE VI Main Street program that allows small towns include affordable housing in their ongoing effort to revitalize older, downtown business districts. A portion of HOPE VI funds are set aside to create the Main Street program for small communities that does not have a local housing authority or has
one that manages less than 100 public housing units. The funds are used to rehabilitate or construct affordable housing in the area where rejuvenation has already begun.

Also receiving 2009-2010 Main Street funding are Coamo, Puerto Rico; Martin, South Dakota; Kit Carson, Colorado; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Wrangell, Alaska.

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