The City of Hinesville is recognizing Fair Housing Month in April, and community leaders who met last month at a midyear retreat noted there are several endeavors afoot to address affordable housing in the area.

“We don’t really need to re-invent the wheel,” Jeff Ricketson, executive director of the Liberty Consolidated Planning Commission, told the midyear retreat attendees. “We have some competent agencies that have been working for a long time on affordable housing.”

Among the agencies tackling affordable housing the longest is the Hinesville Housing Authority, established in 1959. The HHA is fiscally autonomous from the city, though council members select its board.

Currently, the HHA owns four properties, with 25 market units and 208 units available under Section 8. Ricketson pointed out that as of their midyear retreat meeting, there were no reported vacancies, and a waiting list of 1,463 applications.

“There definitely is a need for affordable housing in our community,” he said.

The HHA’s Regency Park apartments, off Sandy Run Drive, recently underwent an $8 million renovation.

The City of Hinesville has undertaken its Azalea Street redevelopment project, which is now in its third phase. The city, the state Department of Community Affairs, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development worked together to bring new housing into a neighborhood that was deemed to be deteriorating.

“The city has gotten a lot of awards for that,” Ricketson said.

The project, which started in 2001, has built 32 single-family and 12 townhouse dwellings.

“They tore down a lot of dilapidated housing,” Ricketson said.

The first phase was seven single-family homes and 12 townhouses, and the second phase was 12 single-family homes. Phase III will consist of 13 single-family homes.

The second low-to-moderate income house for Phase III A has been sold. The survey and plat for Phase III B will come before Hinesville City Council members next month for their approval. At that point, the city will be ready to go out for bid and construction.

The city has obtained grants for the owner-occupied rehab program. Eligible loan recipients can receive forgivable loan assistance to address health and safety needs in their own homes.

For owner-occupied rehabs, the city is down to three applications. Title searches have been completed and there is a pool of four contractors, which City Manager Kenneth Howard said would be enough for the city to bid out the work.

Ricketson added a lot of work has been done through the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing, a three-year housing revitalization program. The state DCA designated Liberty County and its jurisdictions as a GICH community in 2015, and the local committee has remained active past its initial threeyear period. It continues to meet regularly to promote safe and affordable housing across the county.

“The state recruited Liberty County to participate,” Ricketson said, adding the GICH initiative grew out of the 2014 county retreat. “It’s a multi-faceted group of providers focused on providing affordable housing.”

Under the auspices of the GICH, many community members went through and identified needs and shortcomings throughout the county and its six cities.

Dilapidated housing appeared throughout the survey, and Ricketson acknowledged that is a problem.

In that survey, the volunteers found the following needs or deficiencies: Allenhurst — substantial substandard and dilapidated housing/mobile home Flemington — preservation of historic homes Gum Branch — multi-family housing development needed, older single-family housing stock, dilapidated, substandard housing/mobile homes Hinesville — lack of decent, affordable housing for the very low income; lack of housing for middle-class or working families Midway — limited multi-family development; dilapidated structures; lack of low to moderate income housing; extensive code enforcement issues Riceboro — lack of available housing for the workforce; no assisted living or low income housing for seniors Walthourville — dilapidated housing, lack of code enforcement, absentee home owners with dilapidated/substandard rental properties, abandoned dilapidated housing, lack of housing options — need low income and senior housing Liberty County — lack of diverse housing stock, code enforcement violations, outdated subdivision regulations, dilapidated housing structures and blighted properties The Community Housing Development Organization was formed out of a partnership between the Hinesville Housing Authority and local governments. It has built two homes in Riceboro and is working on multi-family projects in Hinesville.

Ricketson also pointed to the success of tax credit projects that have resulted in 400 units since 2015. Chief among those is Renaissance Park, along Memorial Drive near the Fort Stewart main gate, with 42 units.

“It is very good looking, and very complementary to the design ideals for Memorial Drive,” he said.

Other tax credit projects have led to Royal Oaks, a 76-apartment complex off Pineland Avenue, and Live Oak Villas, a 60-unit development in Midway. Another tax credit project, a 72-unit complex in Flemington, is under construction along Patriots Trail. Tax credits also have enabled the rehabilitation of 48 units at Ashton Place off Airport Road in Hinesville.

For months, the LCPC has been working on the unified development ordinance, the first extensive overhaul of local zoning ordinances in 50 years.

“This a major effort for us,” Ricketson said. “This will make it a whole lot easier to administer and make it easier for developers and residents to understand.”

The UDO, which will make allowances for each jurisdiction, does a couple of things for affordable housing, Ricketson pointed out. It allows for accessory buildings, such as mother-in-law cottages.

“A lot of the single family houses we’ve had the last 10 years have been very small lots,” he said. “There is a minimum lot size of 12,000 square feet. Some of the older neighborhoods that have enough room, this ordinance would allow for that option.”

The UDO also gives the county and cities the ability to allow what are known as tiny homes to be built.

A fair housing symposium will be held April 28 from 1-3 p.m. at the Liberty County Performing Arts Center. It will include housing how-tos and attempt to bridge the gap between tenants, owners and landlords. There also will be a question and answer session.

The public is invited to attend.