Abraham Williams, executive director of the Housing Authority of Bowling Green, joked that if grants like the over $4.5 million awarded to the Housing Authority’s Live The Dream Development Inc. last week for affordable housing developments keep coming in, he may not retire.

“Another $4 million, I’ll be here until I catch up (in age) with Donald Trump and (Joe) Biden,” Williams said.

Over $9 million – including the Live The Dream award – will be coming to Bowling Green and Warren County in an effort to replace housing units lost during the Dec. 11, 2021, tornadoes that swept through Bowling Green. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced the awards in a Thursday Team Kentucky press conference.

“We made a promise to western Kentucky that we were going to be there until every home, every building and every life was restored and repaired,” Beshear said. “We’re going to continue to push until that goal is achieved.”

Warren County Fiscal Court, in partnership with the Housing Authority of Bowling Green’s Live The Dream Development Inc., will use the $4,562,376 to construct 10 single-family homes and two duplexes at 247 Double Springs Road.

The 10 single-family homes will be for home ownership, and the duplexes for rent. Williams said the duplexes will be two-bedroom, one-bathroom spaces measuring about 800 square feet. The single family homes will be three-bedrooms, two bathrooms, around 1,300 square feet with one-car garages.

Williams told the Daily News the award had “perfect timing,” as much of the infrastructure work in that area has already been completed, such as sewage and underground utilities.

“We got the first phase finished almost,” Williams said. “It’ll be finished in two weeks, but the second phase of that … it’s gonna take us two and a half to three months to get it started.”

Williams said once infrastructure is complete and the project goes to bid, it will take around 160 days to build one house in the development. However, he said “five or six” houses can be built at the same time.

Williams said there has been an increase in the number of people 55 years old and older who are seeking housing from Live The Dream, something he said is because of rising rental costs.

“They’ve stayed in a lot of these places for years and years, (with) rent $400, $500, $600,” Williams said. “Now, their rent is going to $1,100 or $1,200 – they can’t find affordable housing.”

He said these new duplex units will be rent controlled at $800 per month. Additionally, those applying for housing can get a Section 8 voucher to cover some costs.

“This was a very good day for Bowling Green, a very good day for low- to moderate-income people who want to buy a home,” Williams said.

He said the award will “hopefully” also fund construction of two more Live The Dream duplexes on Combs Drive, where 56 housing units have been built by Live The Dream since 2014.

Live The Dream was awarded over $1 million in grant funding from the City of Bowling Green to construct two sets of duplexes off of Old Barren River Road. These units will house up to four people each.

The other award announced by Beshear on Thursday went to a partnership between the City of Bowling Green and Habitat for Humanity of Bowling Green/Warren County. This award will fund construction of 116 single family detached and twin homes along Russellville Road.

The $5 million grant was applied for by the Bowling Green City Commission on June 4. Since grant funding like this and the funding for Live The Dream can only be obtained by a municipality, the partnerships for both were necessary.

“This is the largest initiative that we’ve ever undertook,” Matt Sheffield, chief development officer for Habitat, said after the grant application. “We’ve built 100 (houses). At the end of this year, we’ll be at 130-some homes.”

Both of these developments come around a month after Beshear announced a $223 million, 953-unit affordable housing push across four western Kentucky counties, 635 of which will be in Warren County.

During Thursday’s press conference, Neighborhood and Community Services Director Brent Childers spoke on the ongoing recovery from the 2021 tornadoes.

“We said probably 30 days after the tornado, we will recover, we will rebuild and we will move forward,” Childers said. “This is another step in that direction.”