North Highlands Development

NeighborWorks Columbus has a demonstrably strong and highly productive working relationship with the Land Bank Authority of Columbus, Georgia. By working together, these two local entities continue to accomplish much more across Muscogee County with greatly amplified successes for all, which in turn benefits the entirety of our consolidated city and county.

As a non-profit, NeighborWorks Columbus strives to promote and provide access to fit and affordable housing and build assets for financial independence for all citizens of low to moderate income. As a public authority, the Land Bank Authority of Columbus returns vacant, abandoned, tax-delinquent, and deteriorated properties to productive use by acquiring them, eliminating the liabilities, and transferring the properties to responsible owners in alignment with community goals and priorities.

The subject of this document is single family housing development within North Highlands, more specifically, those new homes within the project which were, in part, made possible by a NeighborWorks Columbus partnership with Land Bank Authority of Columbus. Within the North Highlands neighborhood of Columbus, NeighborWorks Columbus has constructed nearly 30 new single family homes over the course of approximately 2.5 years.

These new homes are now each successfully owner-occupied, and collectively they have completely served a landmark transformational role in revitalizing the face of this historic neighborhood with its important place within the history of Columbus. Just as with any successful transformation, partnerships and cooperation across organizational lines are key. The same holds true for all that has been accomplished within North Highlands by NeighborWorks Columbus and the Land Bank Authority of Columbus.

In order to accomplish this major introduction of new life into a once troubled and agreeably blighted neighborhood, NeighborWorks Columbus utilized a myriad of community-focused partners to birth such positive change. One of these partners was the Land Bank Authority of Columbus, which allowed the transfer of title for properties which they owned to NeighborWorks Columbus for a nominal fee. This provided NeighborWorks Columbus with the resource of additional lots which in turn further facilitated the infusion of new, affordable and attainable quality housing into a neighborhood which desperately needed it.

This synchronization of resources, efforts, and talents from so many team players (among them the Land Bank of Columbus) ultimately enabled NeighborWorks Columbus to construct the new houses fully covering a 3-block stretch of the 4th Avenue Corridor. This ambitious project for the North Highlands neighborhood was conceived, designed, developed, and marketed by NeighborWorks Columbus (and partners) as “Highland Homes”. Highland Homes is situated within the Census Tract of 13-215-0014.00, and as per the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (FFIEC), this tract is considered as a “Low Income” Census Tract.

Of the many new single family housing units developed by NeighborWorks Columbus within the larger Highland Homes project, 3 of those beautiful, modern, efficient houses pictured above, today stand upon lots which were directly obtained from the Land Bank Authority of Columbus.