Memphis nonprofit unveils new homes for first-time buyers

This article was written and originally published by Memphis Business Journal.

A Memphis housing nonprofit recently unveiled homes built for first-time homebuyers to bridge the affordability gap.

United Housing Inc. held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house on Thursday, Sept. 24, for three new completed homes in Binghampton — located on Lipford Street, Glankler Street, and Princeton Avenue.

The new homes come online as the housing market features more potential hurdles for first-time homebuyers. That includes a recent federal rate hike by a quarter-percentage point earlier this month, and mortgage rates reaching their highest figure since May 2024.ay in school long-term.”

United Housing executive director Amy Schaftlein told MBJ the price range of the three newly constructed homes ranges from $180,000 to $220,000. One of the homes is a four-bedroom, two-bath, while the other two homes are three-bedroom, two-bath.

This latest housing project came together after the Binghampton Community Land Trust (BCLT) previously acquired the three lots from the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), Schaftlein said. The BCLT then hired United Housing to oversee the buildout of the homes.

To make the homes more affordable for first-time homebuyers, several organizations helped raise funds to partially back the project, including the Center for Transforming Communities and the Assisi Foundation of Memphis. United Housing also received funds from the state to complete the project.

“We're a 30-year-old nonprofit, and we've been doing this for the past 25 years,” Schaftlein said. “We're familiar with complex financial tools and capital stacking to make these kinds of developments work.”

United Housing is an affordable housing agency whose service area includes Memphis, Shelby County, and West Tennessee. The nonprofit works with families who have been traditionally underserved by the homeownership industry.

United Housing also offers homebuilding and renovation services, and creative financial partnerships with public, private, and nonprofits on various housing projects.

Mortgage rates have continually increased throughout 2026. The current 30-year fixed mortgage rate recently surpassed the 7% threshold, reaching 7.3%, as of Sept. 24, according to Freddie Mac. That’s compared to 6.30% one year ago.

The Memphis metro housing market sales prices have also risen year over year, according to data from the Memphis Area Association of Realtors. The average sales price of a Memphis metro home in 2026 is about $300,000 compared to $270,000 a year earlier, as of August 2026, according to MAAR.

The new homes in Binghampton create more opportunities for the hundreds of families who come through United Housing’s homebuyer education and financial coaching program, Schaftlein said.

“These are oftentimes first-generation homebuyers too, so we work with folks to navigate that,” she said. “It's really imperative on us to be creative so that we have a way to provide that step up for families who are entering the homebuying market. It is one of the ways that most Americans build wealth and have wealth is in their property.”

Schaftlein said collaboration was always a goal for United Housing on projects such as the Binghampton homes, but now they are a necessity.

“I don't think we could have done it without the Assisi Foundation because of the flexibility that those philanthropic partners provide” she said. “Getting more philanthropic money into construction for affordable housing, that's really the way we need to go from here and into the future.”