“Three, two, one! “
With that, the ribbon was cut on three new homes on the 1200 block of Euclid Avenue SE in Grand Rapids, formerly vacant properties in the state land bank. The Community Rebuilders project showcases homes designed to provide affordable housing for low-income families linking health services right to the homes. Mayor Rossalyn Bliss:
“Not just housing they can afford but housing that meets their needs, housing that brings the resources and supports that they need right to them.”
Each unit has a smartpad connected to Gather Resources and Align Community Efforts or GRACE which is a network of 24 organizations that handle referrals in a closed loop system covering the family’s needs from food to healthcare to literacy.
”We can quickly connect them to additional support so people aren’t just lost, like, we made a referral but we don’t know how that turned out so it gives us the data and tells us what’s needed in our community so it’s very impactful.”
Anna Diaz is the Vice President of Community Rebuilders, the lead partner on the $800,000 project funded through the city of Grand Rapids and a grant from Wells Fargo. She hopes this pilot project grows to include more such homes across the city.
“A majority of families, once they’ve stabilized, are able to work on long-term goals and can really thrive so this is small in comparison to larger projects but its still a very impactful and meaningful project.”
