Written by Connor Spelta

A public park, a mountain view, colorful homes, and bustling construction sites: these are all things you wouldn’t typically expect to see in a community with subsidized housing, but thanks to the work of the city and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga, this is the scene at the Villages of Alton Park.

Construction Office Manager Trish King has seen firsthand the effect that they’ve had fostering a community in the neighborhood.

“We are not building one house for one person in isolation,” said King. “It’s that there are people around here who’ve been through the same process, it’s being part of something bigger.”

The local Habitat affiliate has been in Chattanooga since 1986. In the nearly 40 years since, they’ve built homes in communities across the city from their first near Signal Mountain to their three-hundredth in Alton Park in 2023.  

A key tenet of the Habitat homeownership process is the investment of “sweat equity” by homeowners. The purpose of this requirement, as Habitat explains it, is to ensure that homeowners have an emotional connection and investment in the build process.  

The exact hour requirement is adjusted according to the size of the family, but it is typically 200-300 hours. This time can be spent volunteering at any habitat program, and always includes construction classes leading up to the participant spending time actually building a part of their own home.

At the turn of the century in 1901, Alton Park was a predominantly white manufacturing community with less than a thousand residents. After being incorporated in 1917, the neighborhood became home to mostly black residents displaced by interstate highway construction in the 1950’s and 60’s as the city built public housing there. 

The development on the current site of the Villages of Alton Park was named the Spencer J. McCallie housing development, and was demolished starting in 2001 as part of a $35 million grant awarded to the city by the U.S. office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) the previous year. 

Habitat is helping to fill in the gaps left by the demolition, building houses on the lots where the complex once stood. As rising housing costs in the city outpace wage growth, Habitat offers an island of accessibility to individuals who would otherwise be unable to own a home. 

Ryan Weseloh, the Director of Development at Habitat, has come to know the challenges these individuals face.

“It’s hard to navigate,” he said. “One, the home buying process if you aren’t educated on it, and two, the home ownership part too…If you can’t build it yourself, take care of it yourself, you’re going to pay an arm and a leg for a contractor to.”

While the organization is winding down construction in the Alton Park neighborhood, they aren’t going far.

“We just have a few lots in our landbank right now. Our focus is going to shift a bit, this is a really exciting time for us…we’re going into a new chapter,” King said.

City council voted on November 5 to approve a motion to allow Mayor Tim Kelly to award $40,000 to Habitat for the construction of a property at 531 W. 37th St. as part of an ongoing, years-long partnership between the organization and the city.  

Additionally, Habitat is setting its sights on a new project on Shallowford Road. Shallowford Hites will sit on the site of 4.8 acres of land donated to them by Drs. Ruth and C.Y. Liu. The development will consist of 24 townhomes, each with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. 

As Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga transitions its focus out of Alton Park, the houses they leave behind will remain as a testament to their mission. With each new project, Habitat lifts up their homeowners not by building houses, but by giving them a space to grow hope, community, and a home of their own.

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Living with Access

Written by Koleby Gilbert

Taking a look around The Villages at Alton Park, the Habitat for Humanity homes stand out as strikingly similar to one another, donning the classic brick-to-window foundation and 4-color palette. However, a short row of houses share a particularly unique quality; they are all built with their door at ground level.

In front of one home sits a flourishing, front yard garden tended to by Taryn Balwinski and her partner, Brian Auten. Balwinski is the homeowner of a special residence, one that is tailored to her needs as a person in a wheelchair.

“Living in a completely accessible home has been so much easier than what I was used to. This is the first home I have lived in that was 100% accessible,” said Balwinski. “Being able to get in and out of my own house independently has been great…It has helped me have a lot of independence, because I’m not relying on people as much as I have before.”

Balwinski has been wheelchair-bound her whole life due to a varying congenital disorder, known as cerebral palsy, that greatly impairs one’s movement and balance. During the construction process, she spoke with Habitat volunteers about what she wanted in her home, including special cabinetry, accessible pull-out drawers, and lower countertops. 

Balwinski and Auten’s next door neighbor, also sporting a lush garden on their ground-level property, has been inspiration for enjoy gardening and eating fresh foods. Through this, they have grown new neighborly connections as well.

“His daughter is also in a wheelchair, and we have actually hung out and done stuff together…We took her with us to an art hop this month and last month and got to see a bunch of art…She is actually an artist herself, and I got to introduce her to some of the art community in Chattanooga,” said Balwinski. 

Totaling a 4-year process (thanks in part to COVID), all efforts have culminated in the beautiful home visible today. Having been settled in this home for a long while now, Balwinski has had time to reflect on the best part about having a space to call home.

“My rent before I lived here was double my mortgage now. It has been such a blessing to save that money and have that extra income from not throwing money away to rent,” she said. “It’s the dream of homeownership. I know that isn’t on the table for a lot of people right now with the rise of housing costs.”

Despite the rising cost of living, realizing the dream of accessible homeownership empowers Balwinski to cultivate not only her garden, but her passions, connections, and supportive community in Alton Park.

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