Hopkinsville Mayor J.R. Knight has announced the first recipients of the city’s Lot Next Door Program, as Austin Moss and Cross Point Ministries step in to revamp empty lots in the city.
According to a news release, Moss will be looking to construct affordable housing units on Poston Avenue—Cross Point Ministries is looking to expand their locations parking lot at 704 Smith Street.
The Lot Next Door program was established under Mayor Wendell Lynch in 2021 and looks to move the city’s nearly 1,000 vacant lots back into productive usage as a ‘sweat equity’ program where residents may pay a fee and take ownership of a vacant lot that is located next to an occupied residential or commercial property that they own. They are given the deed to the property following a 12 month period, during which the owner has appropriately maintained the property.
Mayor Knight says, “I couldn’t be happier for the program recipients. This program is proving to be an effective tool in our ‘Growing Home’ initiative to clean up our city and advance our quality of life.”
City Administrator Troy Body is the one who brought the Lot Next Door program to Hopkinsville, an initiative used in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, where Body was a part of that city’s recovery efforts.