A Peoria nonprofit officially broke ground on East Bluff Community Homes, a project that will create 30 affordable rental units in the neighborhood.
The Peoria Opportunities Foundation is spearheading the initiative. Executive Director Jane Genzel said it will include 20 single family homes and 5 duplexes meant to serve low-income tenants.
"Most are within a mile of each other and they're all being built on vacant lots," she said. "Most of those lots were provided by the City of Peoria."
Wednesday's groundbreaking took place on North Delaware Street, about a block from the Glen Oak Learning Center.
"We're starting construction next week. The plan is for the first three houses to be completed around December, and then three houses will be completed every month until all the houses are done," Genzel said.
All told, the project should take about 14 months to complete.
Over the past several years, the Peoria Opportunities Foundation helped renovate more than a dozen homes in the East Bluff to be sold to income-eligible families.
"During that process, as we were going around looking for houses to renovate, we saw a number of rental properties that were in disrepair, they had utility bills," said Henry Blackwell, Peoria Opportunities Foundation board president. "We felt that was an opportunity we needed to actually address."
Genzel said new construction allows them to negate some of those challenges in providing affordable housing.
For more information on the East Bluff Community Homes project, visit p-of.org.
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