After a year and half riddled with financial setbacks, shovels are finally going in the ground at Vista 29, a $26 million project in Albemarle County that promises to halve the number of unhoused people in the greater Charlottesville area.
SupportWorks Housing will hold a groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 30 to herald the demolition of the old Red Carpet Inn off of U.S. 29 just north of the city. The Richmond-based nonprofit organization will then begin an estimated 18 months of construction on a needs-based, residential complex with 80 units of supportive housing that will replace the razed inn.
“We are incredibly excited about the groundbreaking of SupportWorks’ project,” Sunshine Mathon, executive director of the Piedmont Housing Alliance, shared with The Daily Progress via email. “It has been an honor to partner with them in their planning process.”
That process, which began back in late 2020, took significantly longer than expected. Thanks to a $4.25 million recoverable grant from the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, the housing alliance was able to purchase the 1-acre lot that housed the dilapidated Red Carpet Inn.
From May 2021 to the end of June 2023, another local charitable organization, People and Congregations Engaged in Ministry, or PACEM, operated an emergency overnight shelter out of the motel. Following that stint as a shelter, SupportWorks had originally planned to arrive on the scene and commence Phase 1 of Vista 29, part of a larger development known as Premier Circle.
However, the project was put on pause after a preconstruction estimate arrived $3.6 million over budget. The new figure of $24 million from local contractor Martin Horn Inc. factored in the post-pandemic inflation in building expenses and forced Piedmont Housing Alliance and SupportWorks to return to the drawing board. Another $2 million was later added on top of that due to ever-rising construction costs.
It took close to a year, but that budget gap was eventually met thanks to financing from more than 20 different sources, including federal funds, private donations and $1.5 million contributed by the city of Charlottesville and Albemarle County in January.
“Frankly, we’re just grateful that we had partners who came to the table and said, ‘We really want this to happen … and were also patient and understanding to know this is the land and housing landscape right now,” Allison Bogdanović, executive director of SupportWorks, told The Daily Progress.
Based in Richmond but supporting 15 communities across the commonwealth, SupportWorks is focused on creating permanent housing opportunities for the unhoused as well as a network of resources to help those individuals comfortably remain in their new homes.
Unlike an emergency overnight shelter — which often only offers a place to sleep for a couple of weeks — or even transitional housing — which serves as a temporary shelter for those looking for another place to stay — the 77 studios and three one-bedroom apartments SupportWorks has planned for Vista 29 are permanent residences designed for people currently on the streets or on the brink of homelessness.
There, tenants will have a lease for an independent apartment fitted with a full kitchen, bathroom and appliances as well as a rent set at 30% of their income.
“For some folks, this may be as independent as it gets,” Bogdanović said, adding that the average stay of SupportWorks tenants is about five years. “We prioritize the folks who are considered most likely to die on the streets. … Their life expectancies are 10 to 20 years shorter than you or me because of what they’ve lived through, and so we have to take that into consideration.”
“It’s evidence-based, this is, nationwide, how you end homelessness,” she said.
While SupportWorks is not bringing transitional units to Vista 29, the Piedmont Housing Alliance might. After Phase 1 wraps sometime in the second half of 2026, SupportWorks will pass the reins to the Charlottesville-based group to take over Phase 2.
Though what that phase entails is yet to be determined, according to Mathon.
“The details of our next phase are still being worked through, and a funding strategy is still being developed,” he said. “Our overall goal is to start construction soon after the SupportWorks’ project completes, but the specific timeline is not finalized yet.”
Recognizing that simply putting a roof over someone’s head is not the entire solution to addressing homelessness, SupportWorks also provides case management services for each tenant to help assimilate them into their new homes and routines, such as setting up a bank account or shopping for groceries.
“And it’s community-building — what it’s like to live with other people and start to make connections, maybe with their families or in the bigger community,” Bogdanović said. “Reunifying with friends and family is incredibly rewarding for us to see, and that often impacts where people want to go next.”
This is not the first time SupportWorks has brought this style of supportive housing to the Charlottesville area. The nonprofit agency is also responsible for the 60 studio apartments available for homeless and low-income people in the Crossings, constructed in 2012 on the corner of Fourth Street and Preston Avenue in the city.
The organization briefly set out to establish the Crossings II, a similar 80-unit residential complex, in conjunction with the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority at 405 Levy Ave. But that project ran into various logistical challenges in 2020, including zoning restrictions and time constraints to apply for the necessary low-income housing tax credits, and was ultimately shelved.
However, SupportWorks did eventually receive the $750,000 Charlottesville City Council had pledged for the Crossings II for Vista 29 about a year later.
Though the second iteration may have fallen through the cracks, the Crossings has been lauded as a success. In a presentation delivered to City Council in May of 2022, Anthony Haro, the former director of the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless, credited the complex for halving the city’s homeless population in just two years.
According to an annual survey conducted by that same organization, now led by Shayla Washington, the number of people living unsheltered, outside or in homeless shelters within Charlottesville is currently at 125.
That figure too may be significantly reduced as a result of Vista 29.
“I expect a very similar drop in numbers,” said Bogdanović.
At the time it was involved with the Crossings, SupportWorks was known as Virginia Supportive Housing, a name it held since its founding in 1988.
Earlier this fall, however, the organization underwent an “an extensive rebranding initiative” that included a name change, partly due to the fact that its original name sounded too much like a government organization, according to Bogdanović.
“We found the new name and a brand that we think is fresh, energetic and positive,” she said. “We think the new name reflects on our spirit and our innovation.”
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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