The Housing and Community Connections office supports the creation and maintenance of affordable housing in three ways:

1. Technical Support: The office conducts research on best practices to inform, develop, and implement programs that can help the Town further its affordable housing goals, as defined in the comprehensive plan.  It leads efforts to both inform and engage the community in housing and community development-related activities. It provides citizens in need of affordable housing with guidance on resources available within the region. Lastly, the office also helps affordable housing developers to understand and comply with HOME, CDBG, and local rules and requirements and to problem solve throughout the life of an affordable housing project.

2. Partner: The office initiates and supports regional dialogue and coordination with other federal/state/local government, business, education, and nonprofit partners interested in advancing issues related to housing affordability.

3. Lender:  The office administers two U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs, the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and the HOME Investments Partnerships program. The office serves as the lead entity for the HOME program which assists with the construction, buying, and rehabilitating of affordable housing for rent or homeownership. The office is responsible for ensuring all projects funded through these programs comply with federal, program-specific, and local standards. The HNS office undertakes a subsidy layering and cost reasonable analysis for any HOME or CDBG project to determine if the development costs are reasonable, if the project has sufficient cash flow to remain viable, and can be well maintained. It also monitors these projects over time. More specifically:

The HOME program provides funding to The New River Valley HOME Consortium to support the construction and rehabilitation of homeownership or rental housing for households earning at 80% or below Area Median Income (AMI) as defined by HUD. Examples of HOME projects within the Town of Blacksburg include:

• Eight rental apartments for people 55 and older on Grissom Lane in Blacksburg, completed by Community Housing Partners in spring 2014.
• Seven new owner-occupied townhomes on the corner of Hemlock and Church St. completed in 2020 by NRV Habitat for Humanity.
• 49 owner-occupied owner-occupied single family detached homes and duplexes as part of the Stroubles Ridge development on Merrimac Road, to begin construction in 2022 by Community Housing Partners.

The Community Development Block Grant program supports community development activities such as real estate acquisition, relocation, demolition, rehabilitation of housing. These funds can also be used for the construction of public facilities, improvements (such as water, sewer, and other utilities, street paving, and sidewalks), and support for a variety of public services. In 2015, the Town of Blacksburg committed $1.5 million towards a five-year pilot acquisition-rehab program to address housing issues in the Bennett Hill/Progress Street Neighborhood. This program converted seven rental properties into affordable homeownership opportunities for households earning at 80% or below AMI. The sale of these homes includes a 99-year resale restriction, which limits the resale price and requires the home to be an owner-occupied, income-eligible household. To learn more about the eligibility requirements for these programs, click here.

The Town of Blacksburg is continually seeking properties to purchase in the town corporate limits to further increase the affordable housing stock for low- to moderate-income individuals and families. If you are selling property, or know of a property for sale in the corporate limits, please feel free to call 540-443-1610 or email housing@blacksburg.gov.