Jackson Free Press

Today, Mayor Tony Yarber laid out another program designed to improve the City's housing stock and revitalize west Jackson neighborhoods.

Called the Gateway Housing Initiative, the plan calls for a $4.1 million investment in the Capitol Street corridor. The first phase provides for $1.1 million in funding for several streets near Jayne Avenue Park including Claiborne Street, Ellis Avenue, and Holland, Houston, Jayne, Macy and Moss streets. Some of the properties are state-owned and will be conveyed to the City of Jackson for development.

"This project addresses the needs of existing homeowners, the acquisition and demolition of blighted properties, infrastructure improvements, public safety concerns and commercial and business development," Yarber said in a news release.

Yarber has said he wants to "green" the City's gateways by upgrading major thoroughfares that lead into and out of the capital city with environmentally sustainable design principles. The Gateway Housing Initiative, part of this plan, proposes to use infill development as opposed to acquiring new land to build on and a Green Infrastructure Challenge among firms to improve storm-water drainage and reduce sewer overflows. The plan also calls for a developers' challenge in Phase II.

This is the second housing-focused initiative Yarber has unveiled this month. On Dec. 10, at a city-sponsored networking event, Yarber announced a program called Neighbors First to pave a way for City residents to acquire abandoned and ignored properties to get them back on the tax rolls and boost revenue for the City. Homeowners would have the right of first refusal for adjoining lots, and the program would only be open to City residents.

For the Gateway Housing Initiative, the City is working with the Mississippi Housing Partnership and Green Healthy Homes Initiative to use HOME funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Proposed legislation in the U.S. Senate would slash HUD's funding, including the HOME program, which is designed to increase the availability of low-income housing. Information from HUD shows that Mississippi's appropriation of $7.7 million would be slashed 93 percent to $585,840.

Jackson officials say Phase I of the gateway program will commence in the first quarter of 2016. The target area for Phase II will include Bradley, Bon Air, Clairmont, Denver and Prentiss streets.