Piedmont Housing Alliance Completes Initial Activities in Fluvanna County to Explore Affordable Senior Housing Options

Piedmont Housing Alliance and Fluvanna County have completed the first of several activities exploring the viability of creating affordable senior housing in Fluvanna County.  The $30,000 Community Development Block Project Planning Grant, which was given to Fluvanna County last May from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), has two parts.  The first part consisted of assessing the inventory of existing affordable senior housing in the region as well as completing a community survey to provide feedback on such a need. The findings are very favorably in support of more affordable senior housing. Of the 298 survey respondents, 95% said that Fluvanna County does not have enough affordable senior housing. 41% of survey respondents aged 55 and better have incomes below $33,750 and expressed an interest in living in affordable senior housing.

DHCD has now approved the second part of the grant.  As Piedmont Housing’s project manager Betsy Lawson explains, “The next steps are commissioning a market study to determine the exact need and best location for affordable senior housing, and completing an architectural assessment of the two former schools being considered for housing, the Columbia and Cunningham schools in Fluvanna.”

These next steps will occur over the course of several months, with the goal of the final results specifying the exact needs and characteristics of affordable senior housing, and whether the schools are the best place for senior housing.