Calhoun County received a $350,000 Community Enhancement Grant from ADECA’s Community Development Block Grant Program and contributed $38,969 in local funds in support of Habitat for Humanity’s largest project ever in Alabama and one of the largest in the world. The Anniston Water Works and Sewer Board also donated $30,000 in services toward project completion. As part of Habitat’s Jimmy Carter Work Project 2003, 35 houses were constructed on an undeveloped parcel of land in Anniston.
CDBG funding was used to construct two new streets and extend water lines for public water and fire protection services to the Habitat homes. Homeowner families, who had an income between 30% and 50% of the state median income, were selected by the Habitat for Humanity of Calhoun County. The new homeowners’ prior housing is being demolished or rehabilitated as part of a joint project with the Calhoun County Housing Coalition to eliminate substandard housing.