Regionalized Housing for Virginia's Homeless

Construction is underway at the Studios at South Richmond Apartment Complex in Richmond, Virginia. The Virginia Supportive Housing (VSH) organization is developing a regionalized Single Room Occupancy (SRO) project at the 39-unit complex. The Community Planning and Development Director in the HUD Richmond Field Office, Ronald Legette, says this concept is exclusive to Virginia. The Mayor of Richmond, the Chesterfield County Administrator, the Community Revitalization Director of Henrico County and other Federal, State and local officials assembled to break ground for a new addition to the Studios at South Richmond Apartments.


The new addition will add another 21 studio apartments to the property, first developed in 1995. This provides permanent housing for homeless individuals. With these new units, support services are available to help tenants remain in permanent housing, increase their employable skills and income to wield greater self determination. The major components of VSH support services are: case management, counseling and skills training, mental health support services, and community building.

Over the next six months a local contractor, Community Housing Partners, will build the new addition. Each of the new units will be 383 square feet in size and will include a bed, dresser, table, chair, kitchenette and full bathroom. In addition to apartments, the newly constructed property will contain a community room, laundry facilities, and staff offices. Further, the Studios at South Richmond will be EarthCraft Virginia-certified for green building, resource and energy efficiency, and will incorporate a photovoltaic solar energy system designed to reduce the building's energy load by 20%.

With the addition to the Studios at South Richmond, this project will become the fourth 60-unit regional SRO in Virginia through VSH. This project is the first in central Virginia to complement the previous three SRO developments in the Tidewater area of Virginia. Thanks to VSH, regional cooperation exists in Virginia for the provision of homeless housing.
 
Content Archived: January 15, 2013