Dec. 17, 2024 – A grant from Tennessee Housing Development Agency will help Johnson City Housing Authority’s Keystone Development move to a new headquarters.
JCHA received a $431,560 grant through THDA’s Capacity Building Program to purchase and renovate a former bank that will serve as the main office for Keystone Development, the housing authority’s nonprofit development subsidiary. JCHA was one of five organizations statewide to receive a grant.
“These capacity building funds will help organizations like Johnson City Housing Authority make improvements to their operations that will allow them to more efficiently serve their clients and the communities where they are located,” THDA Executive Director Ralph Perrey said.
The Capacity Building Program is funded through THDA’s Tennessee Housing Trust Fund and is designed to assist nonprofit housing development organizations across Tennessee build their space capacity in order to undertake housing development and other related activities. Funding can be used to help organizations construct, acquire, and/or rehabilitate office or program delivery space as well as increase agency capacity in terms of strategic and/or succession management planning.
"We would not be able to do this without THDA's assistance through the capacity building grant, that's what made it possible to be able to make this purchase of a commercial building," JCHA Executive Director Sam Edwards said. "It's not something we normally do, we try to fit people where we can, so this is an amazing opportunity to be able to do something we wouldn't normally have the chance to do."
Edwards said JCHA plans to have the former Regions Bank building on East Watauga Ave. renovated with Keystone Development staff moved in by Spring 2025. Instead of having staff members spread at locations throughout Johnson City, Edwards said the new office space would allow Keystone employees to work more efficiently on development projects.
