More than 30,000 workers live outside the Dalton community, and some commute more than an hour one-way to get to their jobs every day.
“We have a shortage of housing options,” Dalton-Whitfield County Joint Development Authority Executive Director Carl Campbell said in a phone call. “We just want the people who work here to be able to live here. We feel like that helps them, and it helps the community.”
Aiming to plug that gap, Dalton officials broke ground Thursday on a 40-unit housing development designed to serve the local workforce. The project site is about 3 acres.
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A $1.5 million grant from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs will fund utilities and new streets for the project, which will consist of single-family detached homes ranging from one to three bedrooms. The city of Dalton is also providing a funding match to assist with the infrastructure. The residences will be between 850 and 1,350 square feet, and all the homes will cost less than $290,000, Campbell said.