With a donation from area realtors, four homes on the 19th block of Martin Luther King Drive in Meridian will be turned into affordable housing for a member of the community.

A $2,500 grant from East Mississippi Realtors was presented to Mississippians United to End Homelessness to rehabilitate four homes that are around 100 years old.

Ledger Parker, executive director of MUTEH, said the organization works with vulnerable populations in the state and builds permanent homes for those individuals. Parker said with funding from the Department of Urban Development, MUTEH will be able to make eight affordable housing units between the four homes.

Residents in the area said the historical homes will help the neighborhood become vibrant again.

Jerome Kittrell, president of East Mississippi Realtors, said in 2017 and 2018 the agency held a couple of five kilometer runs to raise funds to help support the needs of affordable housing in the area.

“If you want to impact the neighborhood, you don’t need to do just one house,” Kittrell said. “If you can do most of the houses in the neighborhood, you can really impact the neighborhood.”

Once the rehab process is complete, in about three to six months, the homes will be sold as affordable housing, Kittrell said. 

A few weeks ago volunteers from AmeriCorps helped with the rehab process to the homes, Kittrell said. 

“People tend to feel better about themselves and life in general when they can own their own home and it has been hard for so many people to make that first purchase,” Kittrell said.