The Mayfield Community Foundation announced Tuesday is donating $250,000 dollars to the Mayfield-Graves County Long Term Recovery Group.
These funds will go towards the Long Term Recovery Group’s Homes for the Holidays housing project, which aims to repair 25 properties in the Mayfield area by Dec. 25. The donation covers the cost of the first four – or possibly five – properties the Mayfield-Graves County LTRG plans to purchase.
Chairman of the Long Term Recovery Group Al Chandler emphasized the importance of this project in a Tuesday release, saying it combats the issue of displacement caused by last year’s December tornadoes. He says 70% of the people impacted by the tornadoes were home renters.
“The plan to purchase 25 vacant homes and renovate them by Dec. 25 is an aggressive plan,” he said in the release. “We know that big ideas need big support. We are very grateful to the Mayfield Community Foundation for their faith in this initiative.”
The recovery group plans to activate its network of partners to make the necessary repairs to homes to bring them up to livable conditions. Once renovations are complete, approved tornado survivors will be allowed to move into the homes and lease them at a significantly discounted rate. After one year of leasing the properties, residents in good standing will be able to purchase the home.
The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, along with post-disaster architecture and engineering professionals, will assist in building the homes with resiliency measures, like high impact windows and doors, hurricane clips and foundation straps and storm shelters. The homes will also include energy efficient appliances and heating/cooling units to lower the overall cost of home ownership.
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