JACKSON — Clusters of affordable housing units line the blocks directly west of Greenwood Cemetery, in the heart of the Farish Street Historic District. Their Easter-egg hues stand out starkly in contrast to a few burnt-out and blighted homes and vacant lots around them.
One row of units off Monument Street, though, look like a movie scene of suburbia, with houses facing inward on a single lane lined with sidewalks. On a Wednesday morning, it is silent in the neighborhood. The community center, which sits at the entrance to this row of homes, is glaringly white and pristine.
The community, called Helm Place, is an 88-home affordable housing development enabled by a tax credit program and federal funding. The name “Helm Place” comes from Mount Helm Baptist Church, the oldest African American church in Jackson, which is also in the Farish Street Historic District…