JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – A project dedicated to addressing the influx of homelessness in Jackson has been delayed.

In 2023, the city issued a proposal requested for the development of a 30-unit tiny home village on Capers Avenue in West Jackson.

The Jackson Resource Center (JRC) needed funding to build the homes and for other resources. The center requested $950,000 to develop the original community, and the development budget totaled a little more than $1 million. The City Council voted in favor of the project.

Since approval, the City and JRC have worked with HUD to draft a compliant Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). However, JRC repeatedly altered its plans—doubling costs, expanding to 80 units, purchasing modular homes from China at significantly larger sizes, and proposing rental use—changes far beyond the scope of the original RFP, and created additional HUD compliance issues.
City of Jackson

In May 2025, the city offered JRCA an MOU with $1,086,440 in funding and access to additional grants, if needed.

“We have not yet signed that contract. We did get a preliminary MOU about two weeks ago. That is for little less than half of the money that was allocated or approved by the City Council. We do have $2 million that is basically sitting in the bank from Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas that we’ve signed contract on. Time is running out on that money, and we’re just waiting, honestly, to see where the other $2.8 is going to come from,” said Putalamus White, executive director of the JRC.

She hopes the newly elected city government understands the importance of the project to help homeless individuals get back on their feet.