At the corner of 10th Street and Eighth Avenue in Safford a change is taking place that will allow low-income families to purchase a home of their own.

What was once a vacant lot will soon be the location of 22 new two-story town homes spearheaded by non-profit organization Old Pueblo Services and built by Timmco Inc., a general contractor out of Phoenix.

The main focus of the project is to bring the reality of home ownership to households earning between $26,000 and $36,000 a year. Old Pueblo Services has made this possible with packages that involve creative financing and various government programs, including first-time buyer credit.

Preparing the foundations for new town homes are, from left, Manny Timm, President of Timmco and Steve Winterburn, project manager working. Photo by Angela Efros

“We provide them with $25,000 of assistance costs,” said Dr. Ed Robbins, the developer of the project.

After two months of prep work, the underground utilities are nearly complete. The structure that the town homes will rest on has been built, and the first five units are set to arrive over the weekend. Twelve-hundred square-foot, two-story town homes are being shipped to the job site. The buildings are prefabricated modular units, built off-site. Building off-site allows developers to construct quality products, saving time and money, according to the contractor. Those savings are passed on to the home buyers.

Manny Timm, owner of Timmco Inc., has been hard at work bringing Old Pueblo’s vision to fruition. Although the company is based in Phoenix, Timm said he and those he works with have been sensitive to the needs of a community suffering economically with many residents out of work. The contractor has been buying all materials locally in hopes to assist the local business economy.

“We understand the people of Safford are hurting, and we are trying to help. It’s been tough for me because, although we have brought on a lot of local workers for various jobs on this project, guys just keep showing up and it’s hard to turn them away,” said Steve Winterburn, project manager.

The first town homes should be ready for move-in by early December. Eight of the 22 town homes have been purchased so far. Robinson stressed that one of the government assistance programs, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, is no longer valid after Nov. 30. This program allows the buyer a tax credit of $8,000. For more information call Realtor Jina Anderson at 602-284-3423.