BY ELDREDGE MCCREADY
PHOTO BY JESSICA WHITLEY
O
n a frigid Christmas Day in 2020, there
was no snow on the ground, but two
men experiencing homelessness were
discovered frozen to death in Macon.
That tragic event spurred then-newly elected
Lester Miller, who had not yet taken his seat as mayor,
to reach out to his predecessor Robert Reichert and
other Macon-Bibb County civic leaders. The group
coalesced into action. Within two weeks, a collective
of people and organizations reopened a shuttered
elementary school as a temporary warming shelter to
accommodate those who lacked a place to stay. That
shelter has evolved into Brookdale Resource Center,
which houses up to 120 people per day, including
16 rooms for families and 50 beds for individuals on
Brookdale Avenue.
That spirit of taking swift, compassionate action
and working with diverse coalitions to make things
happen is how Macon wants to make its mark – and
they are doing it across the tricky landscape of
housing, a hot topic across the country.
Affordable and accessible housing shortages for
low- and middle-income people have long been an
ongoing problem in Macon-Bibb County, but several
organizations work in a symbiotic relationship to
alleviate the impact.
The Macon Land Bank Authority was formed in
R E B U I L D I N G
hope
Macon's response to the housing crisis
and the fight for affordable living
April/May 2025 | maconmagazine.com 61
LEFT Kathleen
Mathews (left)
and Natalie
Bouyett (right) are
collaborating on
a new affordable
housing project
in Pleasant Hill,
where a blighted
charter school
was recently
demolished.
