Work is underway on Baynes Creek Development, a new mixed-income subdivision in Greene County. It is designed to provide affordable housing for essential workers and entry-level buyers in the community.
Located in Greensboro, the 25-acre Baynes Creek will contain 70 single-family, owner-occupied homes in a combination of single-story, three-bedroom, and two-story, four-bedroom designs. The neighborhood will also include a large park with shared gardens and walking paths to help foster a close-knit community.
Through the generosity of the Baynes family, Georgia Communities LLC was able to partner with Greene County Habitat for Humanity (GCHFH) and the City of Greensboro to develop a vision for an affordable housing community now known as Baynes Creek. In 2021, Georgia Communities purchased 62 acres on Oconee Avenue and built 50 low-income senior housing homes on 12 acres. The remaining 50 acres were donated to Greene County Habitat for Humanity to complete the master plan vision.
GCHFH aims to provide safe, modern, and affordable housing for local families. To support this mission, they are raising $4.5 million to develop the necessary infrastructure before commencing home construction later this year. By providing this established infrastructure at no cost to homebuyers, the overall home costs will decrease, making housing more accessible for essential workers, Hometown Heroes, and families eligible for the Habitat for Humanity program.
“By implementing a strategy to raise the necessary funds for developing the site and its infrastructure, we will be able to offer these homes at a price below the market rate to families in need of affordable housing who work in our community,” Baynes Creek Development Task Force Chair Jan Broughton said. “Baynes Creek can provide an increasingly rare opportunity for essential workers who are aspiring homebuyers to purchase a home at an entry-level price in an environment where there is basically no inventory at all.”
Baynes Creek addresses a critical need in Greene County, where the median price for a new home is $661,000, with three-bedroom homes averaging over $474,000.
Nearly 80 percent of essential workers in Greene County —including firefighters, police officers, healthcare workers, and teachers — currently commute daily from outside the county due to housing affordability issues.
“We believe the desperate lack of affordable, workforce housing that currently exists in Greene County undermines the stability of our entire community, and we are committed to addressing this issue,” Broughton said.
The target home price for Baynes Creek will range from $200,000 to $290,000. In this development, 25% of the homes will be designated as Habitat homes for lower-income families in the workforce. They will be able to purchase these homes using the traditional Habitat model of zero-interest equivalent mortgages. The remaining 75% will be housing for more moderate-income families, helping set a new model for mixed-income living.
GCHFH has launched a major fundraising campaign to support the development of Baynes Creek and has secured approximately $2 million of the $4.5 million for the infrastructure phase. Additional community support is needed to complete the project. GCHFH is calling on local businesses, organizations, and individuals to contribute to this initiative to strengthen the foundation of the community by providing affordable housing for essential workers.
Those interested in contributing to or seeking more information on the Baynes Creek Development can visit habitatgreene.net or contact Elaine Mathews, executive director of GCHFH, at 706-453-1718 or info@gchabitat.com.