Powder Springs Housing Development Combines Affordable and Market Homes

The affordable housing non-profit Habitat for Humanity and a veteran local homebuilder are partnering to establish a mixed-use housing development in Powder Springs-It is a project that’s breaking new ground in more than one way. The rezoning to allow developers to move forward on the parcel of land in Powder Springs  was approved 5-0 on a March 17 County commission vote. “This is the first time we’ve built a neighborhood with a partner,” says Kyle Huhtanen, CEO of Habitat’s Northwest Metro Atlanta chapter. He indicates their re-imaged structural arrangement comes out of  an earlier rezoning proposal for building a Habitat-only neighborhood. That proposal was denied by county commissioners more than three years ago. “We felt like the appetite for a community that we would complete with one type of affordable  home or starter home was not aligned with what mainly commissioners felt like they wanted,” says Huhtanen. “It was just a concentrated area of (Habitat for) Humanity homes,” said District  County Commissioner Monique Sheffield of the earlier idea that she came out against. “It also adversely impacts economic development…it just kind of pulled down the median income in the area a little bit,” she added, saying that property owners in
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