For a time, Shan Jones thought owning a home had slipped beyond her reach.
“Life happened, and I reached a point where I thought I’d never be able to own a home,” she says.
Then she reached out to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga.
Now, Jones is preparing to become one of 22 homeowners at Shallowford Hites, a new 4.8-acre townhome development on Shallowford Road where Habitat and its community partners broke ground on Aug. 13.
“I’m beyond excited,” Jones says.
Habitat held the ceremony across the street from the development site in the parking lot of the Hamilton Family YMCA. The project, nearly three years in the making, represents new territory for the local nonprofit.
“This is a big deal for us,” Habitat Chattanooga CEO Jens Christensen says. “This is the first time we’ve taken on the full development of a neighborhood from beginning to end, including a new design we’ve never built before.”
Shallowford Hites will consist of 22 energy-efficient townhomes on land donated to Habitat in August 2023 by C.Y. and Ruth Liu through the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga.
The property sits across from the YMCA and about a mile from Hamilton Place, placing future homeowners near schools, transportation, shopping and employment opportunities.
For Jones, however, the promise of Shallowford Hites can be measured in something simpler: having a place where she can invite her family.
“One of my dreams for a home is to be able to have my family over to my home,” she says. “I can’t do that where I’m living now.”
From donated land to a neighborhood
The path from a donated parcel to Thursday’s groundbreaking began with a question.
When the Lius approached the Community Foundation about the property, Christensen said the foundation could have sold the land and used the proceeds to support charitable causes. Instead, Community Foundation President and CEO Meaghan Jones saw another possibility.
“You saw the property and you asked, ‘Could this be more? What are the possibilities?’” Christensen told her during the ceremony. “When you shared your vision with Habitat, the answer was, ‘Absolutely.’”
That decision set in motion plans for an entire Habitat neighborhood rather than individual homes scattered across the city.
Meaghan Jones says the project illustrates how one act of generosity can spur others.
“The Lius’ generosity inspired Habitat to be creative and bold and move beyond its traditional homebuilding approach,” she says.
The original land donation, she added, created a “ripple effect” that drew support from donors, public officials, businesses, nonprofit organizations and neighbors.
“No single organization, funder or sector can solve our affordable housing challenges alone,” she says. “The need is simply too great, and the opportunities are too important.”
The development’s street will be called Jones Vision Way in recognition of Meaghan Jones’ role in helping turn the donated property into a housing project.
“It’s incredibly humbling,” she says of the honor.
Homeownership earned
The families moving into Shallowford Hites will not simply be given homes.
As with other Habitat homeowners, they must qualify for the program, complete financial and homeownership education, contribute hundreds of hours of “sweat equity” working alongside volunteers and make monthly mortgage payments.
Habitat offers its homeowners 0% interest mortgages to help keep those payments affordable.
The education begins before the keys are handed over and continues afterward, covering subjects such as personal finance, budgeting, mortgage management and routine home maintenance.
Shan Jones has already been through much of that process.
Next comes the sweat equity – and she’s ready to work.
“I’ll do anything from gathering trash to swinging a hammer to electrical work, which I have experience doing,” she says.
That hands-on investment is central to Habitat’s model and, Christensen said, to what Shallowford Hites represents.
“The families who live here are going to build their future here,” he said. “This is not a small thing.”
Building more than houses
The groundbreaking was ceremonial in more ways than one.
With the actual development site sitting on the opposite side of busy Shallowford Road, organizers decided against trying to move the crowd across the street. Instead, attendees gathered in the YMCA parking lot as temperatures climbed into the upper 90s.
Christensen joked that after years of planning, Habitat was finally ready to put shovels in the ground – just not quite in the ground where the homes will be built.
Getting to that point had not been easy, he added. Engineers, architects and Habitat itself encountered setbacks as the organization worked through its first attempt to develop an entire neighborhood from beginning to end.
Soon, however, Christensen says the vacant property will begin to change.
“Soon, you’ll see earth moving,” he says. “You’ll see homes being built. You’ll see a community rise.”
The location is an important part of that vision. Residents will live within reach of schools, shopping, transportation and jobs, while the neighboring Hamilton Family YMCA will provide each Shallowford Hites resident with a complimentary membership.
Meaghan Jones said those connections help make the development about more than adding 22 units to Chattanooga’s housing stock.
“Housing is about more than buildings,” she says. “It’s about giving people the opportunity to build a stronger future.”
For Shan Jones, that future is becoming tangible. After reaching a point when she wondered whether homeownership would ever happen, she can now envision something she once could not: opening her own front door to family and welcoming them inside.
“This home will mean the world to me,” she said. “I can’t thank Habitat for Humanity enough for making this happen.”