Hope Village: New development breaks ground Monday to expand homeownership on KC's East Side

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On Monday, a groundbreaking ceremony marked the start of a new 21-home development that aims 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, on 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% of the area's median income of $35,000, according to the Hope Center. Leaders with Hope Village say eligible buyers could move in with an estimated $50,000 in equity at closing.

“The ability to create a legacy that your family can benefit from is so important," said Brittany Slater-Smith, who will move into one of the homes.

The project will also offer wraparound homeowner services, including homebuyer education and financial literacy classes.

“I will take every opportunity to learn how to be a successful homeowner," Slater-Smith said.

Jason Gould/KSHB

Hope Center Executive Director Marvin Daniels says the goal isn't just to build homes but to strengthen 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."

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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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