Community Housing Partners, a non-profit organization serving low-income individuals in the southeast United States, held a meeting on June 5 at Harding Avenue Elementary School to discuss providing environmentally sustainable and affordable housing in Blacksburg and Montgomery County.
The housing project would be a 29-acre area on Harding Avenue, just outside of the town limits. The area has been designated an urban expansion area. Public works go to the edge of the property and would be extended during the construction on the site.
Montgomery County and Blacksburg are currently working to adjust the boundary to bring the property into the town limits. The process to do this requires public input and cooperation from supervisors and the signature of a Montgomery County judge.
The housing development would be a partnership between the Community Housing Partners and Blacksburg's Housing and Neighborhood Services.
The Town of Blacksburg will play a role in securing funding for the project, especially from federal sources such as Housing and Urban Development.
"This money subsidizes the development to make low-cost housing available," said Matt Hanratty, Housing and Neighborhood Services Manager for the town of Blacksburg.
Housing would become available for families living on 80 percent or less of the median income. In Blacksburg, this would mean a family of four living on $49,300 or less would qualify.
The site would also seek to provide "green" housing. Some potential features would utilize the latest technology to reduce storm water runoff and other environmental concerns.
The housing project seeks to be the first EarthCraft certified community in the state of Virginia. EarthCraft certification entails meeting certain environmental standards, set by Georgia-based EarthCraft House.
Some of the factors involved with this rating are walkability, use of natural landscaping and green spaces, and integrated planning process, bringing all decision-makers and stakeholders into the design process.
Overall, the site would have mixed housing, consisting mostly of those living at 80 percent or less of the median income, but also families and individuals living at 100 percent and 120 percent of the median income.
Janaka Casper, President and CEO of Community Housing Partners, explained that most of the people who benefitted from the housing were some of the basic service providers in the community, such as police officers, and employees of Virginia Tech.
"There is a market for housing because students absorb what would be the affordable housing in the community," said Casper.
Many community members raised concerns at the meeting.
One concern was why the location picked was currently outside of the town limits and not somewhere within the existing town limits.
Part of the difficulty was that there are no sizable plots of land for sale within the city limits. Another issue was the financial feasibility.
Susan Sisk, Vice President of Corporate Development for Community Housing Partners, said that "land cost is a big obstacle."
Hans Rott, an architecture professor at Tech, was particularly vocal at the public meeting, citing that if the community really wanted to have affordable housing in Blacksburg, they would need to "get serious."
Rott raised concern over the need to emphasize quality work for the Harding Avenue development.
The housing planned for the site needs to utilize every square inch, and "not (be) driven by current real estate fashions."
"We need to be sociologically correct but we don't do anything to make it physically possible," Rott said.
Rott's idea for the site would include houses with terraced roofing, rather than gabled roofing, and increasing the density of the site to reflect the dire need for affordable housing in Blacksburg.
Community Housing Partners wishes to purchase the land in November and will conduct a traffic study to determine if the project would create traffic congestion.
Tentative plans for the site include mixed-residential community housing, consisting of 133 to 186 units on the site, with a density of roughly 5 units per acre. The housing would include a mix of duplexes and multiplexes.
Last year, Blacksburg's housing office, in partnership with Community Housing Partners, built 14 affordable housing units near downtown Blacksburg. These sites have won national awards for environmental stewardship and affordability.
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If the town really was so concerned about having housing for lower income families and individuals, they wouldn't be so quick to fight places like Sonic and Wal-Mart that cater to the lower income people...and also relieve the property and real estate tax burdens of residents that have led to many lower income families moving away from the town (not to mention that the elitists keep re-developing all the trailer parks in town). They talk a big game but in reality it seems their actions don't usually match up. At least CHP is actually doing something...while the Town Council kills everything that would help the town.
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Who is this other John guy? Do you work for Wal-Mart or something?
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Just because places like Sonic have cheap food doesn't mean they are good for people with lower incomes. There are already fast food places in Blacksburg with "food" in the same price range. What is needed for low income families is access to fresh, affordable fruits, veggies, grains, and meat. In other words, a market or grocery store in the immediate vicinity with food that encourages healthy living instead of high sodium, chemical filled fast food.
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Excellent point Anna.
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That is a good point Anna. I think it is a great idea to have housing for lower income folks. What got me about this article is that in Blacksburg, lower income is $50,000/year! My husband and I live in Giles County because on his very decent salary provided by VA Tech, we couldn't afford to buy a house in Blacksburg. So, he commutes 30 miles to Tech every day. I honestly do not understand how Blacksburg is able to cater to such high end housing given the economic realities surrounding the community. Where is the money coming from to pay for $500,000 homes? Who is paying those kinds of salaries? (And can I have a job please!)Is there a foreclosure epidemic in the near future there?
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Dear John, Several studies, based in Vermont, Ohio, Mass., and New Hampshire, show that big-box and fast food retail actually cost municipalities more than they contribute. Bringing them in actually raises property taxes rather than lowers them. See http://www.newrules.org/retail/econimpact.html
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There are also studies showing that walmart may be good for communities. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22719054/ another site is: http://www.globalinsight.com/About/PressRelease/PressRelease2439.htm while I have not studied these articles, it just goes to show that there is evidence that Walmart (And other big box stores) makes a positive impact as well. Regardless, having affordable housing in Blacksburg just seems like a good idea to me. I do wonder what these affordable homes would cost...only $250,000? (I'm a bit cynical I guess)
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There are also studies showing that walmart may be good for communities. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22719054/ another site is: http://www.globalinsight.com/About/PressRelease/PressRelease2439.htm while I have not studied these articles, it just goes to show that there is evidence that Walmart (And other big box stores) makes a positive impact as well. Regardless, having affordable housing in Blacksburg just seems like a good idea to me. I do wonder what these affordable homes would cost...only $250,000? (I'm a bit cynical I guess)
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Anna--seriously, do you think that encouraging fresh foods is going to solve anything? People who live in affordable housing are generally lazy, fat-slobs with no education or drive to do anything in life. On the other hand, I can't really talk, cause I'll probably being looking for affordable housing as well.
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Joe- people eat what they can get to. If a Wendy's and a Wilco is the only thing close enough for them to get to by foot or by bus, that's what they will eat. If there are no healthy alternatives on their drive to work, they will choose what's available. I'm not saying fresh food will save the world, but the existence of a Sonic certainly isn't going to either.
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I should clarify that I mentioned the Wilco as a substitute for a grocery store. Having worked in one, I know that the milk and bread are the only fresh foods in them. The other foods that masquerade as "not toxic", such as cheese or even fruit, have passed their expiration date and sit on shelves or in the coolers until a rep from that company come to switch them out.
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Joe- as someone who easily qualifies for affordable housing I find your statements very ignorant. I have my bachelors degree and work 40hr weeks at VT and my husband works many 6 day weeks. We don't have time to be lazy slobs (and have no interest in that lifestyle either might I add) yet even with two incomes we are tight on cash and have found finding housing and other basics hard to come by. I know I speak for many other hard workers out there who find themselves strapped from time to time.
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For the record, I do not work for Wal-Mart, and I live in a community that has a Lowe's, Wal-Mart, Food Lion, Kroger, and other developments within a 1-mile radius of my house. I enjoy some of, if not the lowest, property taxes in the region, and I am very satisfied with the services we receive from those low property taxes. Blacksburg is an expensive place to live, and I found it suffocatingly difficult to afford high rents, utilities, taxes, and living expenses for things I bought in town. To save cash, I drove to Christiansburg to shop where I could easily save 20% or more, but most of that started getting eaten up by gasoline costs...so I moved. I can safely say that if Wal-Mart has already been in town, I might have been able to stay because I would have parked my car completely and been able to use the BT to get around to everywhere, including work. That would have been worth the higher rents and taxes to me, but without having decent places to shop for non-grocery consumer goods, living in town wasn't worth the hassle anymore. To the folks who can actually live in town and want to see it as a little enclave of specialty shops and organic food stores I simply will say, good luck, because I don't see how the town can have a healhty balance if it is mostly one-sided.
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