Monday may have been an unusually hot day in Knoxville, but that didn’t delay the groundbreaking of two affordable housing neighborhoods. Mayor Madeline Rogero, Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation (KCDC), the Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA), and others broke ground on Monday at Five Points and Southside Flats.

“You know, I always said 90-degree weather in Knoxville is a great day to have two affordable housing groundbreakings,” Rogero said at the beginning of her statement at the future home of Southside Flats.

The groundbreakings started in the Five Points neighborhood in East Knoxville, which is seeing the start of Phase 3 in its four-part revitalization plan. Phase 1 was completed in August 2017, and Phase 2 will be completed by the end of the summer.

In the afternoon, people headed to the future location of the Southside Flats neighborhood across from Fort Loudoun Lake in South Knoxville. Southside Flats will have 172 units of affordable housing for residents: 84 one-bedroom units, 51 two-bedroom units and 37 three-bedroom units. It’s also on the Knoxville Area Transit bus line and near Fort Dickerson Park.

The $29.9 million dollar project will be built and owned by Elmington Capital Group, a privately owned commercial real estate investment and development firm based in Nashville.

“This is a city and a leadership that is practical, solution-oriented and forward thinking, and without whom we would not be standing here today,” said John Shepard, vice president of Elmington Capital Group.

Qualifying residents for Southside Flats must have an annual income that is at or below 60 percent of the area median income. The median income in Knox County is $61,900, so a family of four living at or below $37,140 would be eligible.

Katie Moore, the community outreach liaison at THDA, spoke about the impact these units will have on the community.

“Housing is a need for every single one of us, and all of us have affordability issues regardless of your income,” she said. “Units like these create stable foundations for those who work around here… These are great individuals and families that are going to live in these 172 units.”

The KCDC’s involvement with Southside Flats is smaller but significant. They will provide project-based housing vouchers for 60 of the units, which allows renters earning even lower incomes to qualify. These vouchers are attached to the 60 units, so these residents will never have to pay more than 30 percent of their annual income toward their rent.

“This creates incredibly stable housing which in turn allows these folks to get to work, send their kids to school and really live and thrive and thrive in this neighborhood,” Moore said.

The city has contributed a total of $900,000 to the project: $540,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and $360,000 from the Affordable Rental Development Fund that council approved last year.

“It takes time to put all of this together,” said Rogero, remembering how she was meeting with Elmington for the first time in July 2016.

These affordable housing developments should help Knoxville avoid a “housing crisis,” an issue that Rogero has warned about in the past. Knoxville Homeless Management Information System (KnoxHMIS) data indicates that 366 clients reported “no affordable housing” as a cause for homelessness.

“I think that this is going to be a win for everyone in this area, everyone in the city, and obviously most importantly to the residents who are going to utilize this affordable housing for years to come,” Bentley said.