In the latest installment of our Finding Home on the Westside series, meet Nedra Louis.
Nedra has been a resident of the Westside her entire life, living on Ashby Terrace for 20 years. Several years ago, she experienced health challenges, including being diagnosed with COPD, a chronic inflammatory lung disease. Due to being hospitalized and a loss of income, Nedra faced housing insecurity.
“Nothing came in time for me to keep put, I had to bounce from one end to the other. I needed somewhere to stay, and that’s how I ended up back on the Westside,” said Louis. “I was so glad when this came available.”
Westside Future Fund’s (WFF) Home on the Westside program prioritizes people with live, work, and learn connections to the historic Westside. Today, Nedra lives in a new high-quality affordable housing apartment along James P. Brawley Drive.
356 James P. Brawley is one of three multifamily properties WFF opened last year in the English Avenue neighborhood. The 21 new high-quality affordable housing units are in addition to WFF’s existing portfolio of 181 units and represent over $30 million worth of investment in multifamily projects completed, and underway.
Each newly opened multifamily property is a fully rehabbed existing building. These sites, once blighted and vacant, have been carefully renovated to preserve the historic character of the community rather than being torn down. The apartments are available to residents earning 60 percent of the area median income (AMI) or less, and all projects include Homeflex project-based rental assistance from Atlanta Housing.
WFF is currently developing an additional 104 high-quality, affordable housing units, in both new construction projects and substantial project rehabs, throughout its service footprint.
WFF is grateful for all of our philanthropic partners who make it possible for residents like Nedra to remain in the community they love.
“The Westside is the best side,” said Louis.
WFF’s mission to advance a compassionate approach to equitable revitalization is achieved through the support of our philanthropic partners. The organization has launched Our Next Chapter, a capital fundraising campaign to accelerate its ability to create affordable housing for legacy and future residents of the historic Westside and to restore these storied neighborhoods as part of the fabric of Atlanta.