Local non-profit gets approval for 184-unit development

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – Heidi's House of Hope is a non-profit dedicated to providing affordable housing and a sense of belonging to communities in need, as well as educating those that may not know the ins and outs of real estate investment.

"We want to empower renters to become homeowners and help them build wealth through homeownership," Founder Lauren Schreiber said.

"I realize there's, like, a big lack of education on that. And people don't realize there's so many different funds that they could put towards their home and be able to get grants and everything. So just being able to educate the community and help them realize that and realize that they don't have to just keep being renters and just have their rents keep going up and up and up."

Tuesday night, the Johnson City Regional Planning Commission approved a rezoning plan that will allow them to put 184 affordable homes on a parcel of land on Frank Jones Road.

"There will be a mix of duplexes, a mix of four-plexes, there will be a mix of single-family homes, ranging from 500 to 1200 square-foot," Schreiber said. "With the rentals, we're hoping those are going to be more like starters. And while we help people, educate them, help them realize that they can own a home, have a portion of that, go towards a down payment for a home that they can own."

"Then we want to focus on doing communal amenities, have a dog park, communal gardens, firepits. Everything you could possibly want except a pool. Basically just areas that people can come together and, you know, support each other and, you know, hang out in a cool space."

Schreiber and her husband Brett already own rental properties and said it was seeing some of their tenants struggle that gave her the idea for the development.

They said their goal is to break ground in the spring.