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Fall 2008

Summer 2007

Building for Home Ownership

Expanding the affordable housing stock is crucial to the region’s efforts at making homeownership more obtainable for all. PHA has been a regional leader in rehabilitating and building new housing. To date, PHA has brought over 100 housing units on line for homeownership. Much of this investment and construction, valued at over $15 million, has also help revitalize and re-energize lower-income neighborhoods, leading to millions of dollars of new and growing wealth for hundreds of families, and creating a stronger economic base for the community. br/>

Fields at Venable...PHA's newest townhome development in Charlottesville. Vist the Website at http://www.venablefields.com
If you have any question, contact markw@piedmonthousng.org or 434-817-2436

Completed Projects:

Crozet Crossings (1990s) – Prior to its name change to PHA, the Charlottesville Housing Foundation (CHF) built 30 single family homes in Crozet. All were sold to low-income buyers with subsidies that continue to fund the Crozet Crossings Trust Fund for affordable housing.

Starr Hill – (1999) PHA aided the Starr Hill neighborhood in its efforts to improve conditions and promote homeownership through the rehabilitation and replacement of four homes.

Hinton Avenue – (2000) PHA helped increase the attractiveness of the Belmont neighborhood through rehabilitation and construction of six homes on Hinton Ave., and installation of new sidewalks to promote a more pedestrian friendly environment.

10th & Page Street – (2000-2006) PHA’s most ambitious project to date, this urban core redevelopment project in the City of Charlottesville constructed and/or rehabilitated 31 properties in the depressed 10th and Page community. The work done by PHA, with its partners, was aimed at sparking a revitalization of the neighborhood through increased homeownership opportunities for first-time buyers.

31 homes rehabilitated, completed, and/or assisted.

9% of neighborhood properties directly assisted.

Subsidies average over $40,000 per home on new homes, plus low-interest mortgages with interest rates as low as 3.5% fixed for 30 years.

Two-thirds of buyers are very low/moderate income. One-third of buyers are market rate buyers, integrating a mix of incomes into the neighborhood and helping to subsidize very low/moderate income buyers.

Average annual household income of very low/moderate buyers = $28,000, or 47% of area median income.

Average home sale price of very low/moderate income buyers to-date = $154,000, with their average net-mortgage after PHA assistance at approximately $114,000.

65% of all buyers have been minorities.

Number of funding sources utilized to make project work: 14.

Average Home Size: 1,377 square feet, 3-BR, 2 ½ BA.

With design support from PHA, the new Hope Community Center was completed on 11th Street.

Professions of homebuyers include: hotel housekeeping worker, dishwasher, bookstore worker, retiree, firefighter, teacher, plumber, school principal, secretary, service worker, and maintenance technician, among others. Market rate home buyers have included local teachers, doctors, professors, and former neighborhood residents moving back to the City.

Oak Lawn Cottages (2004-2006) – PHA, in partnership with a private developer, helped strengthen the Fifeville/West Main Street neighborhood through the creation of 12 mixed-income single family detached condominiums, three being affordable. Using a creative financing approach, PHA acted as the equity partner in the development.

Projects Under Design and/or Implementation

Fifeville – (2003-2007) In an effort to help those who help others, PHA is providing critically needed housing within the City proximity for low-to-moderate income persons and families through the creation of seven units in the Fifeville Mid-town neighborhood. Several of the units have been built in collaboration with the University of Virginia’s green-building ecoMOD Program (www.arch.virginia.edu/spotlight/ecomod/).

Forest View Condominiums – (2006-2007) Located in the Rose Hill neighborhood, this 16 unit former apartment-complex has been rehabbed to promote increased safety and a greater sense of privacy and pride of ownership among the primarily elderly, limited-income residents. This project is funded by CDBG/HOME funds from the City of Charlottesville.

The Plaza – South of Main – (2007-2009) PHA, in partnership with a private developer and the City of Charlottesville, plans on an innovative project to promote urban sustainability and revitalize this gateway community through the establishment of a mixed-income, mixed-use, multi-story development with 24 units of housing. The Plaza – South of Main development will be the inaugural project in the City’s Transitional Zoning program.

The Fields at Venable -- (2006-2007) PHA will help bring more mixed-income housing to the urban core of Charlottesville with the development of these six town homes on John Street near the Venable School and the UVA Central Grounds, two of which will be affordable.

Pleasant Green – (2007-2009) PHA plans to develop eight acres it owns in Albemarle County, with a total of over 50 housing units dedicated to a mix of incomes. It will be an “eco-village” where at least 25% of the homes will be affordable to low-to-moderate income households and where PHA will push its leadership in affordable green building and green community design.

Mores Hill – (2008-2010) PHA’s ongoing commitment to more ecologically sensitive, energy efficient and healthy homes will be exhibited through a unique mixed-income cluster/preservation development on 78 acres in rural Nelson County.