Forty families in Yazoo City got the news they'd been waiting nearly two decades for: the houses they've been renting are about to be theirs.
At a ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 14, residents of Roberts Estates celebrated a new path to homeownership after renting the same homes for as long as 19 years, WLBT reported. The deal came together through a partnership between Hope Enterprise Corporation, Gateway Community Development and Mississippi Home Corporation, along with a federal grant.
"Over 15 years of wondering and over 15 years of dreaming about having a place to call our own. Today, look at God! We will be homeowners," said Dawn Dodd, who attended the ceremony.
How the deal almost fell apart
Gateway, a Yazoo City nonprofit, built Roberts Estates about 19 years ago using low-income housing tax credits. Residents were promised they could buy their homes for $15,000 out of pocket after 15 years of renting.
According to HOPE's account of the project, problems surfaced as that compliance period wound down. A $15,000 purchase price was so low that mainstream mortgage companies wouldn't underwrite the loans. And because each home would sell far below its appraised value, Gateway couldn't recoup enough to pay off the original lender that financed the development.
Gateway CEO Sabrina Billings reached out to HOPE. Billings, who won NeighborWorks America's 2025 Dorothy Richard Award for Resident Leadership for the project, told HOPE that homeownership was "just so out of reach for so many people" in Yazoo County. "We're creating generational wealth through this project," she said. HOPE used a $3 million grant from HUD, which U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson helped secure, to buy the entire development. As owner, seller and lender, HOPE layered grants and forgivable loans to make the numbers work. Tenants pay $15,000 out of pocket, and Gateway will break even on its permanent debt when the program wraps up, according to HOPE.
HOPE says the purchase will take each household from no equity to about $155,000 in equity at closing. Thirty-eight of the 40 homes are still occupied by original residents, and the other two by their descendants.
"The beauty is that we are here today. For most people in this country, the single largest investment they make is in a home. If we can make that investment affordable, we ought to do it," Thompson said at the ceremony, according to WLBT.
Mississippi Home Corporation approved the deal earlier in October, and Enterprise Community Partners covered research and legal costs, WLBT reported.
A program that's hard to pull off
Former Gov. Haley Barbour also attended the celebration and tied the deal back to programs that started after Hurricane Katrina. "This is one of the best results because some of the things that started in post-Katrina drifted into this and into making programs like Gateway, HOPE, and making them better," he said.
HOPE explains that the homes were part of a federal affordable housing program, run by the states, that gives developers tax credits to build single-family homes for income-qualified residents. In Mississippi and Louisiana, developers scored higher on applications if they included a path to homeownership.
"We're learning that this lease-to-own program sounds great in theory, but it can be hard to execute," said Jena Reed, HOPE's vice president of community and economic development. "What we're doing with Roberts Estates is setting a precedent for what this work can look like in practice all over the country."
Yazoo City Mayor Macklyn Austin pledged his support. "This mayor right here, Macklyn Austin, is going to be behind you 100 percent," he said.
Why it matters for Contractors
The 40 homes in Roberts Estates already exist, but what comes next is new construction. Gateway is planning a second phase with about 30 more single-family homes under the same lease-to-own model, according to WLBT and HOPE, and Billings said Gateway will work with HOPE "every step of the way." That's a steady single-family job in Yazoo County for builders who know tax-credit work, from site prep and slabs to framing, roofing and finishes. The Roberts Estates story also shows how the tax-credit homeownership model works over the long haul: homes have to hold up for 15 years or more before residents can buy. No builder has been named publicly for the next phase, so contractors interested in it should contact Gateway Community Development.