Tom Green knows The Palmer Home’s mission will continue.
Almost a year after The Palmer Home for Children announced its children would relocate to the campus in Hernando, the Columbus Community Housing Development Organization (CCHDO) purchased the approximately 110-acre property. The property officially changed hands on March 16, and after being a home for children in need for more than 120 years, part of it will now become a residential group home for elderly care.
“We want to continue the ministry that The Palmer Home started,” said Green, who worked for The Palmer Home for eight years before becoming the operations manager for CCHDO on April 1. “We’re just going to be doing it with the elderly.”
CCHDO, a private nonprofit, community-based service organization that has the capacity to develop affordable housing and supportive services, serves under the umbrella of the Columbus Housing Authority (CHA).
However, CCHDO is the purchasing entity of The Palmer Home because Columbus Housing Authority cannot own any properties that are not subsidized or deemed as low income public housing units. When the CHA was formed back in the 1950s, there was a cap placed on the number of public housing units established within the housing authority’s jurisdiction, thus limiting the number of public housing units the housing authority could have to 480.
CHA is at the maximum number of public housing units that are allowed and can be subsidized with Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding.
Before new residents can settle into the former Palmer Home living quarters, renovations are needed.
“There’s many things we’ll have to do to make the property completely handicap accessible,” CHA Executive Director Debra Taylor said. “We know we’re going to have to install handicap accessible toilets and rails. … These all are expensive costs as well as time consuming.”
The goal is for the property to be ready for residents by fall.
“When we took the property over, everything was geared for children,” Green said. “Now we have to upgrade it for seniors.”
Comprehensive plan for property
The CCHDO plans to use the six cottage group homes on the property — where the children in Palmer Home’s custody formerly lived — as licensed residential properties for elderly individuals. Forty-eight residents will occupy the cottages total, with eight people occupying each cottage.
Four cottages will be for women, while the other two will house men. Food and laundry services will be provided.
“Everyone knows mama needs care, but not everyone takes care of mama,” Green said. “We’re looking at people who need help with care.”
One cottage for each gender will be equipped with a dog yard for any resident in need of a service animal. Some bathrooms in the units will be shared, while others will be private. Each cottage will be equipped with a piano, along with plumbing, electrical, water and sewer connections. These units will also be occupied by a mixture of low to moderate income families along with market renters.
One of the requirements to open a group home is to establish that there will be a market, Green said. In a survey conducted, there were approximately 300 eligible candidates across Lowndes County for housing. To be eligible, one must be at least 62 years old and can assume daily living activities with minimal assistance. Green said one of the focuses on selecting residents will be veterans.
“We want a diverse group,” Green said. “We want to make it available to all people, but we would certainly like veterans and other people, too.”
CCHDO invested in The Palmer Properties, Taylor said, to “address the homeless problem, shortage of low-income housing, HUD funding cuts, and to establish an alternative cash flow.”
Taylor said longer-term plans for the property involve having market renters occupy the two duplex rental properties and three apartments inside the gymnasium. The former Palmer School will either be converted back into a rental house along with the administrative office building or utilized as schooling for preschoolers and Headstart. Green said neither of those buildings need any renovations right now.
In addition to serving as residential facilities, CCHDO will provide social services, youth programs, healthy initiatives and educational programs.
The Hattie J. Lindamood Memorial Building, built in 1895, will be getting a new roof and new gutters as part of a restoration effort, but Green said that probably won’t happen for another 18 months.
“We want to restore it to its original state,” Green said of the historical building.
History of The Palmer Home
Palmer Home was established in 1895 and built on 110 acres in South Columbus in 1898, the year the first child was admitted.
By August of that year, 20 acres had been acquired and the orphanage building cost $5,000. In 1901, a second building was built at a cost of $3,300. The original building became the girls’ dormitory and the new building the boys’ dormitory.
Palmer Orphanage was named in honor of Rev. Dr. Palmer of New Orleans who was the author of Thornwell’s Life and Letters. Over the years, it added cottages where the children live, as well as a gymnasium, a barn and greenhouses.
The Palmer Home began expanding in 1990 with the purchase of 150 acres in Hernando just south of Memphis, Tennessee. The first cottages on that property were built in 2003.
In March 2019, The Palmer Home announced its 30 children in Columbus would be relocated to Hernando.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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