Jackson County’s need for affordable housing continues to grow, and that could be impacting the local economy. The county’s 2040 Land Use Plan contains a county map showing sites for potential development across Jackson, but officials say the problem is that when preparing for construction with grading, drainage issues and soil erosion concerns fewer improvable areas are actually available, because Jackson’s valleys are less broad than neighboring counties like Macon. This housing crisis could mean workers living elsewhere and commuting to Jackson, or people leaving altogether, and that means less property taxes on homes and vehicles and lower sales tax revenues for the county.
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