LOU Home announces applications open for new affordable housing community

Published 3:26 pm Friday, August 16, 2019

The first units of a new affordable housing development in Oxford will be ready for occupants next month, and applications are now being accepted.

LOU-Home, Inc., announced this week that the Belle Rivers development is now accepting applications for residents. The development is located on Slack Road off of University Avenue.

Belle Rivers includes 48 units that are “intended to serve the working people of Lafayette County,” per a release from LOU-Home. Applicable residents must earn no more than 60 percent of the area Median Family Income as established by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). For a household of four people, that figure is $39,480.

Email newsletter signup

“Our nonprofit is really pleased to have these 96 units ready to start accepting applications,” Kathy Sukanek, president of LOU-Home, said. “The need for affordable housing is one which comes up over and over again in our community, and Belle Rivers and Eastover should be well-received and fill quickly. We can’t wait to see families moving in.”

Eight of the Belle River units are expected to be ready for occupancy by Sept. 1, with the remaining 40 being available as they are completed. Belle Rivers’ sister development, Eastover, will also soon make its 48 units available. Eastover will be located at the intersection of County Road 280 and Cannon Road.

These two developments join LOU-Home’s previous development, Community Green. Community Green is located off Molly Barr Drive and has been fully occupied since 2012.

In May, the City of Oxford and the Oxford Housing Commission held an affordable housing summit to discuss housing issues in Oxford and Lafayette County. Attendees of the summit were allowed to sign up to serve on topical study committees in an effort to get the community more involved in the affordable housing crisis.

“Affordable housing has been a conversation in this community for as long as anyone can remember,” Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill said earlier this year. “We are victims of our success in many ways, and that shows up glaringly in real estate prices. It is a very high priority for this Board to find ways to accommodate the people that make this community go round.”

Eligible parties must register to be considered for the Belle Rivers units at bellerivers.com. For further information, or to ask any questions regarding the development or application process, people can call 901-435-7795.