GKAD celebrates new supportive living homes with ribbon cutting and open house
KINGSPORT ‚¬ The Greater Kingsport Alliance for Development held a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house Monday, Nov. 24, to showcase one of two new supportive living homes in Kingsport.
Funded primarily through a $500,000 Housing Trust Fund grant from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, along with additional funding from First Bank & Trust Co., the new homes on Tennessee Street and Robertson Street feature three bedrooms and two baths each with common living room, dining room and kitchen. Each home will have supportive services provided by Frontier Health, the regions largest provider of behavioral and mental health services.
The Greater Kingsport Alliance for Development (GKAD) is the nonprofit arm of Kingsport Housing & Redevelopment Authority (KHRA). GKAD purchased the land on which the homes were constructed with nearly $120,000 from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program of the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD).
We appreciate THDA and the Housing Trust Fund, as well as HUD and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program for making this possible. And we are pleased to partner with Frontier Health on this project, said KHRA Executive Director Terry Cunningham. I also want to thank GKADs board of directors for their continuing support of special housing projects in Kingsport.
THDAs Housing Trust Fund was designed with persons with special needs in mind, said THDA Executive Director Ralph M. Perrey. We depend on successful, compassionate organizations like the Greater Kingsport Alliance for Development to provide the structure, the services. We are happy we can support their good work.
Kingsport Fire Department Public Education Officer Barry Brickey said he is particularly pleased with the homes because both are equipped with a sprinkler system, providing added protection for the residents. The new houses are among the first residential homes in Kingsport to have sprinkler systems.
Home fire sprinklers are like having a firefighter in every room of your home, Brickey said. The quick response of the home fire sprinkler will normally put out a fire before firefighters arrive, not only saving the residents lives but property and possibly the firefighters lives, too.
Frontier Health is looking forward to having two new homes that will provide decent, safe and affordable housing for six clients with intellectual disabilities, said Frontier Health Chief Executive Officer Charlie Good. Frontier Healths hope is that successful housing placement will meet the consumers need, help avoid hospitalization and generally improve their quality of life and independence.
Michael Brady, Inc. of Knoxville provided architectural services for the project. Preen Construction of Knoxville served as general contractor.
