Fighting the Blight with Affordable Housing
One Community Update
June 17, 2025
Source: www.wapt.com
Debora Tarvin of Jackson has to look at a blighted property across the street from her home every day, and it bothers her.
“I just wish they do something about this house across the street because I’m tired of looking at it. That yellow house has caused us more problems than anything,” said Tarvin.
She is not the only person who deals with this.
According to the Mississippi Center for Justice, blight is a problem that residents deal with across the Mississippi. Now, the organization is partnering with several cities, including Jackson, to tackle the issue with funding.
“This was a grant from the Mississippi Bar Foundation through the Bank of America, so we have seen that there are over 1,500 abandoned properties across the state,” said Ashley Richardson with the Mississippi Center for Justice.
MCJ says blight is not only an eyesore, it also endangers communities and lowers property value.
“The house across the street, a squatter had moved in, he refused to move out, and he came back and set it on fire,” said Tarvin.
MCJ and the city of Jackson say they hope to take the blighted property and turn it into something useful, like affordable housing, a garden or a community center.
On Tuesday, they took the time to inform community leaders and nonprofits about their plan.
Reginald Jefferson, deputy director of housing and community development of Jackson, was at the meeting and said he is excited about this new partnership. He says it gives them more dollars to fight the blight.
“The money that we get from HUD, while it’s good money, it only goes so far, so it really helps if we can partner with other organizations that also have funding available so we can make our dollars stretch further and so we can perform a greater good,” said Jefferson.
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