Roswell To Participate in Georgia Initiative For Community Housing Program

Roswell has been chosen to participate in the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing (GICH), a three-year program that assists cities in addressing their housing needs.

Through GICH, Roswell will evaluate demographic changes in the community and the impact those changes will have on housing. GICH will assist the city in developing a housing strategy that will be presented to the mayor and Roswell City Council for consideration at the end of the program period.

During the program, Roswell’s designated Community Housing Team will receive facilitation, instruction and technical assistance as it designs and implements its strategy. The 15-person team includes representatives from local government, businesses (banks, real estate, builders/developers), nonprofits, faith-based organizations and the public housing authority.

The centerpiece of the initiative is a series of retreats where the team will work directly with a facilitator/housing professional and engage in cross-community sharing and collaboration. The first retreat will take place in February 2013.

Each year, at least five communities are identified to participate in GICH. In addition to Roswell, this year’s selected communities include the city of Dalton, city of Greensboro, city of Lithonia and city of Pembroke.

GICH is a collaboration of the Housing and Demographics Research Center, the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach at the University of Georgia, the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, and the Georgia Municipal Association. It is also partially funded by the Georgia Power Company.

In-kind services are provided by the Georgia Electric Membership Corporation, the University of Georgia’s Archway Partnership, and the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government.

For more information, contact Roswell’s Redevelopment Manager Stefanie Dye at 770-594-6296 or sdye@roswellgov.com.