The mayor announced that Athens has received a Welcome Home Ohio grant to build eight modular, affordable homes on city property at the end of Hudson Street (93 Hudson) and on an adjacent parcel to be acquired from the American Red Cross. “These will be homes that are affordable,” the mayor said, adding that the units are expected to sell for about $180,000 each and will include rooftop solar at no additional cost to qualifying buyers.

City officials said the homes will be manufactured offsite — “built 1 wall at a time” in a factory — then transported and craned onto concrete slabs, allowing them to be assembled quickly once construction begins. The mayor said a private developer will handle much of the buyer‑qualification work and the logistics of construction, and the city will not directly manage buyer outreach for this project.

Officials gave an approximate timeline: site and acquisition work is expected to move forward in February or March, possibly into early April, after which modular units will be installed rapidly. The mayor emphasized the solar installations should help lower operating costs for purchasers but did not specify eligibility criteria, the total project budget beyond the grant, or whether local preference policies will apply. Those details, he said, are the developer’s responsibility to finalize.

Next steps: acquisition of the parcel from the American Red Cross and developer procurement; officials said interested residents should await formal application and qualification announcements from the city and the selected developer.