Local leaders in Ripley, Tennessee gathered Thursday to celebrate the completion of a multi-million-dollar preservation project at Crescent Heights and Chapel Circle, two affordable housing communities that trace back to the earliest days of the city's public housing system. The $8.8 million overhaul brought renovated kitchens, central air conditioning, upgraded infrastructure and enhanced shared amenities to Crescent Heights Apartments, a 71-unit complex built in 1962. For residents who have called the property home for decades, the transformation is more than cosmetic.
Belverly Wimbush has lived at Crescent Heights for 24 years, raising her grandchildren and great-grandchildren there, according to WREG. She was honored with a gift card as the property's longest-tenured tenant and told the station the renovations made the old apartments look like heaven. She still cooks Sunday dinner for her family at the complex, per the same report.
Property manager Tonya Robinson said the buildings were rehabilitated to improve them and make them more affordable for community residents, the station's coverage notes. The investment, according to that reporting, is meant to provide a better way of living for current residents and a fresh start for people who need affordable housing going forward.
How a 1962 Development Became a Modern Financing Puzzle
Crescent Heights and its sister property, Chapel Circle, were among Ripley Housing Authority's very first developments, built in 1962 after the agency was chartered by the state in September 1960 and received federal grants the year before, according to Ripley Housing. Getting there required years of financial restructuring rather than a single grant. The housing authority began converting the properties from traditional public housing to Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance under HUD's Rental Assistance Demonstration program in May 2019, a shift that let it access private capital, with new resident leases executed in April 2021.
That RAD conversion — cited by the seed story as the mechanism that made the preservation project possible, alongside a housing assistance payment contract — set the stage for a string of grants. The Tennessee Housing Development Agency awarded the authority a $1.5 million National Housing Trust Fund grant in October 2022 targeted at energy efficiency and exterior upgrades for Chapel Circle. Roughly a year later, in September 2023, the same state agency announced the authority's first-ever 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit award, the competitive equity mechanism that pulled in the private investment needed to complete the full $10 million redevelopment of both properties.
A Town Where Nearly a Third Live Below the Poverty Line
The stakes for Ripley are steep. U.S. Census Bureau five-year American Community Survey estimates put the city's median household income at $37,432, with a poverty rate of 30.7 percent — roughly double the statewide average. Ripley Housing Authority now manages 325 total units across seven developments, serving more than 500 residents who are predominantly seniors, children and people with disabilities, and it expanded its regional reach in 2023 by taking over management of the 100-unit Milan Housing Authority.
The authority's operational turnaround predates this project. It reached HUD “High Performer” status in 2019 with a Public Housing Assessment System score of 94, up from a “Standard Performer” score of 79 in 2017, under Executive Director Justin Jones, who took over leadership in 2018.
A Family Name Tied to the Authority's Past and Future
Ripley's civic history runs directly through this project. Current Mayor Craig Fitzhugh, who took office in August 2020 after 24 years in the Tennessee House of Representatives, is the grand-nephew of James “Jim” Fitzhugh, one of the housing authority's founding 1960 commissioners, according to Lauderdale Voice. Fitzhugh previously served as House Democratic Leader from 2011 to 2019.
That family name will resurface in the authority's next major undertaking. Ripley Housing Authority has announced plans for “Fitzhugh Towers,” a new senior housing complex of 75 to 100 units planned for five acres adjacent to its North Crest Apartments, named in honor of the founding commissioner. The project reflects a broader national pattern: HUD's Rental Assistance Demonstration program has converted more than 1,930 public housing projects covering over 266,000 units nationwide, generating more than $28 billion in construction investment aimed at clearing a long-standing backlog of public housing repairs.
