It's not that they've failed. It's that housing has become unreachable in our county.
Kathy Johnson, St. Vincent de Paul Georgia, Forsyth County
The Cottages of providence is a planned neighborhood of 74 small homes on 12 acres in Cumming, Georgia, for seniors, veterans, and working neighbors who can no longer afford to live where they have always lived.
On August 18, 2026, the Cumming City Council voted 5 to 0 in support of the project's application for the Georgia Rehoused grant.
Please enjoy this short video to meet some of the neighbors who are building providence, and some of the neighbors who are interested in living there.
Keeping our neighbors close to home.
The neighbors this is for already live here. They work in our stores and restaurants, sit beside us in church, and have family down the road. Some are seniors on a fixed income. Some are young adults just starting out. Some lost a job or a spouse and never caught back up.
When rent climbs past what they earn, there is no affordable place in the county to land. So they end up in extended-stay motels at rates higher than an apartment. In their cars. On a relative's couch. Sometimes for years. Or they leave the community they call home.
The Cottages of providence is the local answer to a local problem. Built here, by us, for our own neighbors.
What we are building
A home with a front door
Each cottage is about 400 square feet on a permanent foundation, with a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, a bedroom, and a front porch. Not a bunk. Not a unit. A home, with a key that belongs to the person who lives there.
Support that stays
Every resident works with a case manager on a plan built around their own goals. Benefits navigation. Health care. Veterans services. Senior programming. Job support. Whatever standing back up actually requires.
A real neighborhood
Seventy-four homes and a community center, professionally managed, with clear expectations that every resident signs. Porches face each other. People know each other's names.
Our own neighbors.
Seniors on fixed incomes. Veterans. People working full time for wages that no longer reach Forsyth County rents. Adults and couples living in extended-stay motels, in vehicles, or in temporary arrangements that were never meant to last. Every resident will have a documented connection to Cumming or Forsyth County.
Who will live here
Where the project stands
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Done:Advisory Committee formed
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Done:Site identified: 12 acres off Lanier 400 Parkway
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Done:Cumming City Council votes 5 to 0 in support of the project's application for the Georgia Rehoused grantHear what was said →August 18, 2026
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Not yet:Georgia Rehoused grant application submittedTo be confirmed
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Not yet:Ground lease executed with the City of CummingTo be confirmed
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Not yet:Architect and builder engagedTo be confirmed
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Not yet:GroundbreakingTo be confirmed
Updated August 2026. We post what has actually happened, including the months when nothing does.
Heard at City Hall
On August 18, 2026, neighbors filled the council chamber to speak for the Cottages of providence. Then the City Council voted 5 to 0 in support of the project's grant application.
"They needed a hand up, not a handout."
"I'd like to kind of add my story. I'm one of those people."
"Ever since it was brought to my attention, I was on board."
The City is providing the land. Philanthropy builds the homes. Rent and reserves keep them standing.
The 12 acres belong to the City of Cumming, and the City is providing the site through a long-term ground lease. That means not one donated dollar buys dirt.
How it's funded74 cottages. One neighborhood. However you can help build it.
The full plan is estimated at $12 million: about $2.5 million to prepare the site, about $8.5 million for 74 homes and the furnishings that make them livable, and $1 million set aside at the outset for operating costs. At those estimates, that works out to about $115,000 to build and furnish one cottage. It also works out to $24 a month building one square foot of a neighbor's home.
Gifts are made to St. Vincent de Paul Georgia, a 501(c)(3) organization, EIN 58-0967972, and are restricted to the Cottages of providence.
What your gift funds today
The Cottages of providence is in pre-development. Gifts made now fund the work that has to happen before anything is built: design and engineering, permitting and approvals, legal and organizational costs, and the site preparation that comes first.
Every gift is made to St. Vincent de Paul Georgia and is restricted to this project.
We intend to build all 74 homes. We are not able to guarantee it, because the project still depends on the ground lease, on approvals we do not control, and on raising what it costs.
We will tell you where the project stands every month, whether the news is good or not.
Gifts to this project are irrevocable. Once a gift is made it belongs to St. Vincent de Paul Georgia and cannot be returned.
If the project cannot be completed, St. Vincent de Paul Georgia may direct gifts given to it toward the organization's other charitable work. That decision would rest with its board, it would follow only a determination that the Cottages of providence cannot proceed, and we would write to every donor we have a record of to say what happened and where their gift went.
Our partners
AgeWell Forsyth · Avita Community Partners · Family Promise of Forsyth County · Forsyth Community Clinic · Mustard Seed Tiny Homes · NAMI Georgia · The Drop · The Place · United Way of Forsyth and Dawson Counties
Take a look
Nothing is built yet. These are the design as it stands and the land as it is today. Photographs will be added as the neighborhood goes up.
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ARTIST'S RENDERING
The cottages as designed, with front porches facing the street. -
ARTIST'S RENDERING
The neighborhood street, looking down a row of cottages. -
ARTIST'S RENDERING
Site plan concept: 74 cottages, a community center, and shared green space. Final layout follows engineering and City approval. -
One cottage: porch, living room, kitchen, full bathroom, bedroom, and closet. Architect's plan. -
The star marks where the Cottages of providence will be built, on land along Lanier 400 Parkway that the City of Cumming is providing. Aerial imagery: USDA National Agriculture Imagery Program, 2023.