A new 72-unit affordable housing project for Johns Island’s senior residents (age 62 and older) has been a long time in the making, developers and community leaders said.
Named for local civil rights hero Esau Jenkins, the Esau Jenkins Village, now under construction at 3627 Maybank Highway, is being called “the culmination of our parents’ vision for safe, clean, decent affordable housing for all on these islands” by Elaine Jenkins, the youngest daughter of Esau and his wife Janie.
Charleston County Council member Joe Boykin, who represents the sea islands in District 8, said this new development is crucial for the Johns Island community.
“A lot of our affordable housing in the county tends to be in more urbanized areas,” he said in an interview this week. “But the sea islands have a culture and population that’s unique to itself — and it’s aging. Rather than have these folks move away from where they’ve grown up and raised their children, I think it’s a benefit for them to stay close to their roots. They don’t have to move to a different place to enjoy their golden years.”
And the project is only the first step in a longer process. Johns Island Rural Housing, an affordable housing development across the street from the Esau Jenkins Village site, is also slated to be totally revamped in the future.
‘Financial spaghetti’
Boykin said Charleston County Council was the final piece of the new project’s puzzle, pledging $3.26 million of its federal American Rescue Plan money to bridge the gap to the project’s funding goals.
“This project, a very needed and critical one, was in dire straits,” Boykin said. “It might not have happened, and the council was really proud to be able to support it the way we did.”
The total funds raised — $25.9 million — came from more than 10 sources and four levels of government assistance altogether. It includes participation from the City of Charleston, Charleston County, the State of South Carolina and the United States Department of Housing and Community Development.
At a Feb. 15 press groundbreaking ceremony for the project, Richard Hutto, executive director of the S.C. State Housing Finance and Development Authority, said bringing together so many financial and planning partners on the project shows how badly how many people wanted it to succeed.
“Financing affordable housing has been described as financing lasagna — this was more like spaghetti,” he said. “There were a couple key factors that this community did not have control over, including unprecedented spikes in construction costs and changes in legislation that impacted the taxpayer. Working through that … took a lot of effort from a lot of different people.”
A lasting legacy
Speakers at the groundbreaking pointed to the memory and lasting works of Esau Jenkins as the inspiration behind the collaborative effort of the project.
“In the spirit of Mr. Jenkins’ work, these 72 units will show our city’s capacity for collaborative problem solving, especially supporting our community’s most vulnerable citizens,” Charleston Mayor William Cogswell said. “There’s a reason there are people moving here, and it’s not just because of our oak trees, our built environment and our sunny beaches.
“It is because the people that live here create such a community and a fabric that people want to be a part of,” he said.
Hutto said the efforts taken by those involved in the project reminded him of the efforts Esau Jenkins exerted in making necessary changes in his community.
“My grandmother was the same age as Mr. Jenkins. … I really never saw her sit down,” he said. “I didn’t know Mr. Jenkins, but that really reminds me of the energy and resourcefulness he certainly used. I’m sure he did sit down, but when he did, he sat down to plan and strategize and dream and change things.”
A ‘master plan’
Boykin said this development is much-needed for the area since Maybank Highway is a corridor often characterized by dysfunctional traffic and struggling infrastructure. But several other projects are on the way to alleviate some of Johns Island’s growing pains.
“One of the potential projects that’s coming is the Maybank-River interchange, which will create the southern pitchfork and widen the existing highway from three lanes to four,” Boykin explained. “It will split in the center, so we can maintain the tree canopy.
A separate line item in the budget could go toward creating a center lane on MAybank Highway all that runs to Main Road, “to get turning cars out of traffic,” Boykin said. “This is all a master plan, at least, it’s my vision of one.”
Boykin added he wants to add a CARTA bus route that can travel the entire span of the Maybank Highway corridor, connecting even the new Esau Jenkins Village.
“I’m afraid to push for it too hard right now, because our roads are not up to quality yet,” he said. “We first need to fix that corridor to where the buses can move up and down freely.”
Boykin said the rapid growth can be concerning to residents, but by being smart about it, he believes the island can retain its identity while still improving quality of life for the increasing population.
“I’m willing to accept that 20% of the island is going to be urbanized at some point,” he said. “So let’s have the infrastructure we need to maintain the liveability of our residents and the culture of the rest of the 80%.”
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