MARYVILLE, Tenn. — Patrick Layne's home still smells brand new, even though he moved in April.
"Gosh, it's wonderful," Layne said. "You still walk in there today and it smells, like, brand new — still fuming out from the carpet and stuff. It's been wonderful."
He's been working since the winter of 2022 to get inside it, and said he wouldn't be there without the help from Maryville's Foothills Community Development.
More housing stock is on the way for Foothills Community Development, a nonprofit that helps people who meet certain income requirements become homeowners. The Tennessee Housing Development Agency awarded a $813,000 grant to Foothills Community Development this week.
The plan is to use that money to build four single-family homes near Heritage High School, according to THDA.
"We are super excited about partnering with THDA and super excited about the impact we'll have when we successfully put these plans to work in Blount County," said Bobby Eason, Foothills Community Development Executive Director.
According to a presentation at this year's Tennessee Housing Conference, it's getting harder for Tennesseans to become homeowners because it costs significantly more money to own a home today than it did in 2021.
Data presented by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University shows the median home price in December 2021 was $358,000, compared to last December, when the price rose to $382,000.
Although down payment and closing costs have remained about the same, the data shows it costs about $1,000 more each month to own a home now than it did in 2021.
The income needed to afford monthly homeowner costs has also increased from about $84,000 to more than $121,000 per year from December 2021 to December 2023.
Layne said Foothills Community Development helped him with the down payment and closing costs, but he did a large portion of the work too. He moved to East Tennessee in 2019 to be closer to his family and said it's been hard to find a house ever since.
"I figured the community was growing and everything is growing down here," Layne said. "It's one of the reasons I moved down here, besides my son being here — him and his wife and the grandkids."
The THDA grant is part of the national HOME program, run by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It focuses on funneling money into smaller cities, counties and nonprofit organizations and must be used to help people in low-income households either rehabilitate, preserve or produce affordable housing.
The homeowners who will be living in the houses provided by this grant will help with construction, which should start soon.
Layne said it's a crazy housing market, but people who want to buy a home should take advantage of any opportunities they come across.
"Try to jump on something you think you can handle right away, even if you can just afford it, I say," he said.