This letter is in response to the column “Our View — Develop real estate for our own” that was published in the Oxford EAGLE on Jan. 27.

I am in total agreement with your column about the need to build neighborhoods in the $80,000 to $120,000 price range for the “working folks” of Oxford/Lafayette County.  The housing market inside the city limits of Oxford has skyrocketed to the point that people that are in the low- to medium-income range that are helping to make this an envied town to live in, cannot afford to live in that same-said town.

We have to live on the outskirts of town just to be able to benefit from affordable housing prices. 

Now, developers are looking to step outside the city limits and create housing geared toward students, alumni and wealthy people rather than to provide any type of housing at a reasonable price that will be affordable to the working class.    

With the move of developers stepping outside of the city limits, Lafayette County will begin the trend of creating neighborhoods that are costly to live in, therefore, causing the prices of other housing to go through the roof and forcing working class/medium-income people farther into the outskirts of Lafayette County or into other rural counties or cities. 

It would be nice to see Lafayette County do something that the city of Oxford didn’t do: sincerely care about its residents and provide opportunities of affordable housing whether it be to rent or own.

Let’s stop catering to the wealthy and start considering the folks that live in this town year-round. I hope Lafayette County will say no to this development and any other development that does not consist of affordable housing.

I also hope Lafayette County will consider the infrastructure that is currently in place and that will need to be placed in the future as the city of Oxford grows.

Jackson Avenue and University Avenue are nightmares. Highway 7 is quickly becoming a nightmare and Highway 30 is not far behind. Slow down and quit thinking about dollar signs. 

Please, for the good of the Lafayette County residents, think about how these developments will affect the ones that live here all of the time and help make Oxford function.

Carol Bullard

Oxford