Hope Village: a new development breaks ground Monday to expand home ownership on KC's East Side

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — KSHB 41 News anchor Rae Daniel covers stories across Kansas City with a focus on community groups and highlighting fun things to do on the weekends. Share your idea with Rae by email.

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On Monday, a groundbreaking ceremony will mark the start of a new 21 home development, designed to create more attainable homeownership opportunities for working families on Kansas City's East Side.

The Hope Center, a community and youth development nonprofit serving Kansas City's East Side, is partnering with Sankofa EDG, a real estate development and consulting firm, to break ground on what they're calling Hope Village.

Leaders say this project has been more than a decade in the making. Vacant lots near 32nd and Chestnut will soon become Hope Village.

The development will include nine single-family homes and six duplexes for families earning between 80 and 120 percent of the area median income. Leaders with Hope Village say eligible buyers could move in with an estimated $50,000 in equity at closing.

The project will also offer wraparound services of home ownership, including homebuyer education and financial literacy classes to help families prepare for long-term home ownership.

The Hope Center's Executive Director, Marvin Daniels, says the goal isn't just to build homes, it's strengthening the East Side for generations to come.

"So we start with taking these vacant lots, bringing them to vibrant homes , building pathways to ownership so that one KC can be true," Daniels said. "Not just in staging, but in actuality and function and that’s why it’s important that everybody join in on what we’re doing on the east side of Kansas City to birth this One KC with authenticity."

Daniels says this is more than development, it's about betterment and building a stronger Kansas City as a whole.

"That’s the type of city we want to be right, where every area of the city is strengthened and healthy so that when we talk about one KC, we can go anywhere in the city and have a semblance that we all belong to the same place," Daniels said. "The East Side has been one of those neglected areas of the city, the neglected brother or sister of the city that without the strength of the East Side, there is no one KC."

The development is backed by more than $1.9 million through the Central City Economic Development Sales Tax program.

Construction is expected to take about three years.
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