HAZARD, Ky. (April 11, 2023) – Today, Gov. Andy Beshear joined local officials, nonprofit leaders and community members in the Allais community of Hazard to celebrate the completion of an affordable housing subdivision named Gurney’s Bend. It is the first subdivision to be built within Hazard’s city limits in the last 50 years.
“The people of Hazard and across Eastern Kentucky deserve good days like today,” said Gov. Beshear. “The new Gurney’s Bend subdivision is providing families with an affordable place to live. We’re building a brighter future for every Kentuckian in every corner of the commonwealth.”
The City of Hazard partnered with the Housing Development Alliance (HDA) to clear an abandoned strip mall to make room for the subdivision. The project received $791,000 in funding from a Community Development Block Grant administered by Kentucky’s Department for Local Government (DLG).
“We couldn’t ask for any more help from the Governor than what he’s given us,” said Mayor Donald “Happy” Mobelini. “As soon as the flood was over, he was here, and I can’t count how many times he’s been here since then. He said he wasn’t going to forget us, and he hasn’t.”
The subdivision is named after former Kentucky Poet-Laureate Gurney Norman, who lived in Allais as a child.
“By all working together, the City of Hazard and HDA were able to turn what was an eyesore into a thriving community with 15 high-quality homes,” said R. Scott McReynolds, executive director of HDA. “As Gurney Norman said at our first wall raising, ‘Allais is being born again, literally.’ None of this would have been possible without the CDBG funding provided by DLG.”
In addition to the CDBG funds, the project leveraged over $2 million in funding from more than 15 funders.
Reynolds went on to say, “HDA carpenters, local subcontractors and vendors, Hope Building trainees, summer interns, HCTCS construction students, local and regional volunteers all worked together to construct these 15 homes in just 20 months.”
The final resident to move into Gurney’s Bend will be Sharon Caudill, a 2022 flood survivor.
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