A new affordable housing complex is being built in Killeen.
Deshanda Hopper moved into Moss Rose in December 2016.
"It's pretty much a blessing like actually being able to find a place with my income because everywhere I had tried to look for an apartment... they were like oh, you have to make three times the rent or you had to make two times the rent. I'm like... I'm on a fixed income," Deshanda Hopper said.
Hopper currently lives in a 573 square foot, one bedroom apartment for 30 percent of her gross annual income. Coming this fall, she will be one of the first to call Hyde Estates home located in the 4600 block of Cunningham Road.
"This to us, this is definitely addressing a need that has been... that the city's seen all along.. that we still have that need for affordable housing," Lisa Perata, the Executive Director for the Killeen Housing Authority, said.
The Moss Rose complex was built in the 1950s. The new Hyde Estates will be a big upgrade.
"They're coming into today's standard for what you would find for rentals," Perata added.
Hyde Estates is expected to cost $16 million.
"Between the tax credits that we had gotten through the State of Texas and the affordable housing grant that we received a half a million dollars for, that is how that and private funding through investors that we're able to provide a $16 million property," Perata said.
The new property will provide residents a dog park, playgrounds and easier access to amenities such as grocery stores.
"For me to take a taxi just to the HEB on what is that, Gray Street, there and back is like $12 but, I know it'll be a lot less going to the Wal-Mart right there," Hopper added.
In addition to living in a better location, residents will gain close to 200 square feet of space.
"We chose to make this match the neighborhoods that you see around," Perata added.
The Killeen Housing Authority expects to begin moving residents on September 1st.
The new Hyde Estates is named after Genevieve Hyde who served as a Killeen Housing Authority Board commissioner and lived in a housing authority property for the last 14 years of her life.
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