Albemarle Supervisors to approve projects that would utilize housing fund

Albemarle County created an “affordable housing investment fund” in fiscal year 2019 to further goals enshrined in what would later be adopted as the Housing Albemarle policy.

Last May, Supervisors agreed to change the way potential projects are ranked.

“Under the new program guidelines, AHIF applications are rated against a series of metrics with applications needing to score at least 75 percent of the total available points to be considered for funding,” reads a staff report for the latest rankings.

Additionally, Supervisors agreed that 40 percent of funds would be distributed as grants and 40 percent would be given as loans. The remaining would be used for “staff identified projects addressing an emerging housing need.”

The window for applications opened on January 9 and closed at the end of the month. The county received seven submissions with a total request of $7,343,652.

The projects have now been ranked and four are recommended to move forward by county staff.

• Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville will get $1,368 million for construction of 20 affordable rental units at Southwood for households making less than 80 percent of the area median income. The amount is split into $918,000 in grant funding and $450,000 in loans.
• SupportWorks Housing will receive a $317,495 grant for a request to replace sustainable energy tax credits that have since been eliminated. The funding will also be used to build a future transit stop at their 80-unit single occupancy housing development at Premier Circle now known as Vista29.
• Piedmont Housing Alliance will receive a $1,191,520 grant for their 60-unit project at Vista29.
• The Local Energy Alliance Program will receive a $605,500 grant for energy efficiency projects for 55 low-to-moderate income households across the county.

Staff also recommends $110,000 for the Salvation Army to provide operational support for a newly renovated family shelter.

“The shelter offers 7 units designed to house families experiencing homelessness, providing support to a severely underserved demographic in the Albemarle-Charlottesville area,” reads the staff report.

The five projects total $3,592,515 and this will leave $1,367,706 in the affordable housing fund.

Three projects did not make the cut.

• Woda Cooper, the developers of the proposed Burley Pointe on U.S. 29, sought $900,000 toward a project for affordable 92 units. I wrote about that project last July for C-Ville Weekly. This scored at 68 percent.
• Browns Insulation sought $550,000 for an affordable workforce housing program that would include job training. This ranked 30 percent.
• Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville sought $550,000 in grants and $900,000 in loans for affordable homeownership opportunity at Southwood. This scored at 67 percent.

Supervisors will be asked to support a declaration of PHA’s section of the Vista29 project as a revitalization area. This is intended to help increase the score for an application for low-income housing tax credits.

“The project will contain a mixture of 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom apartment units distributed throughout three buildings,” reads the staff report. “All 60 units will be made available to households with incomes between 30% and 60% of the area median income (currently $125,800 annually for a four-person household).”

For more on PHA’s expanding portfolio, check out this recent article for C-Ville Weekly.

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