Housing Deal Brings Life to Land
By Michael Martz, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.
Aug. 7–New life is coming to a neglected part of South Richmond with homes that working people will be able to afford.
The Catholic Diocese of Richmond and the Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity completed a deal yesterday that will boost both the supply of affordable housing in the region and the fortunes of a small parochial school in Powhatan County.
Diocesan Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo did his part by deeding almost nine acres of land to Habitat in order to build a new community on Dale Avenue near Jefferson Davis Highway for people with low-to-medium incomes.
"I can’t imagine a better use of our resources than helping people having trouble with the economy — and especially with housing," DiLorenzo said at a ceremony yesterday at the diocesan offices in western Henrico County.
The diocese sold the property for a discounted price of $159,000 — down from $265,000 — because 40 percent of the land is forested wetlands that can’t be developed. The money will go to Blessed Sacrament Huguenot, a 10-year-old parochial school in Powhatan that had been given the property at 2400 Dale Ave. by a supporter in 2003.
"We have a school that needs help," DiLorenzo said.
For Habitat, the reduced sale price will allow construction of homes that people with low-to-modest means can afford in a project that had to be scaled back from 58 to 35 units because of the wetlands.
The nonprofit organization expects half of the houses and town homes to be sold to people earning 30 to 60 percent of the area median income: 30 percent to people earning between 60 and 80 percent of the median and 20 percent to people earning up to 110 percent of median income, with some at market-based prices.
The project also will include a 28,000-square-foot resource center for community organizations and events, as well as Habitat’s headquarters. All of it, including the roads and sidewalks, will be built by volunteers.
"It will take 13,000 volunteers to make this a reality," said executive director Leisha LaRiviere.
The project promises to bring life back to a part of Richmond that 8th District Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell says is blighted and overlooked.
"I talk to the neighbors and they say, ‘We would welcome anything out here over what we have right now,’" Trammell said.
Habitat’s goal is to create a community that won’t resemble a low-income housing project.
"The idea is you go into the community and it looks like a community," said Andy Nea, a Williams Mullen lawyer who has represented Habitat free of charge.
The commitment makes the city’s top planner happy.
"They’ve been terrific," said community development director Rachel Flynn, who applauded Habitat’s plans for architectural design, energy efficiency and environmental responsibility in the project.
Flynn said she expects no problems in the proposed rezoning of the property from industrial to a mixed-used residential category.
Ultimately, the project will represent Habitat’s single largest effort to expand the supply of housing in its service area, which includes Richmond and the counties of Charles City, Chesterfield, Henrico and New Kent.
"One house at a time is not going to fill the need," Nea said. Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or mmartz@timesdispatch.com.
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