Chesterfield County outlines consolidated housing plan, funds regional supportive housing project

Jessica Sagra, Community Enhancement Department housing staff, told the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors that the county is finalizing its five-year consolidated plan that will guide use of federal HUD funds including CDBG and HOME.

The consolidated plan will set goals for affordable housing, neighborhood infrastructure and public services and the county expects to release a full draft for public review in early March ahead of a third community meeting, Sagra said. "The consolidated plan is the document that describes the county's 5 year goals related to affordable housing, neighborhood infrastructure, crisis and public services," Sagra said. She told the board the county received just over 100 community survey responses and is combining that input with a consultant's needs assessment and market analysis to complete the draft.

Sagra outlined the county's recent and planned uses of federal funds. She said CDBG public-service funding is limited to 15 percent of the county's annual CDBG allocation—about $240,000 this cycle—and the county received roughly $480,000 in public-service requests. Combined CDBG and HOME requests for housing or public-facility projects totaled about $1.4 million for the coming year, she said.

Sagra reviewed specific projects funded with county federal dollars. Winchester Forest, in the Bellwood area, is a 160-unit development with units affordable to residents earning about 60 percent of area median income; the county contributed $300,000 in CDBG funds to that project. Horner Run Apartments, a 49-unit development near Route 360, will open for leasing in spring 2025; Chesterfield contributed $150,000 in CDBG and $250,000 in ARPA funds, and eight units will be set aside for individuals with disabilities through the Community Services Board.

Single-family initiatives were also highlighted. Sagra said the county contributed about $75,000 in HOME funds to a Habitat for Humanity house on Main Street in Ettrick; that unit sold for $205,000 to a household at 80 percent of area median income. The county has funded home-repair programs that served close to 140 households in the past two years through three nonprofit partners; Sagra said more than half of beneficiaries were seniors and nearly three-quarters were seniors in that two-year review.

On regional supportive housing, Sagra said Chesterfield, Henrico and the City of Richmond awarded HOME-ARP funding to Support Works Housing (formerly Virginia Supportive Housing) for the Rady Street Apartments, a permanent supportive housing project planned near the Henrico–Richmond line. "They will have 82 units of permanent supportive housing, with on-site supportive services," Sagra said. The total HOME-ARP investment for the project is approximately $8.7 million; Chesterfield's contribution is $1.8 million. Sagra said Support Works plans to apply for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits in March and that the project is scheduled for a projected construction start around May 2026, subject to change.

Sagra said unit referrals will be managed through the Greater Richmond Continuum of Care's coordinated entry system on a first-come, first-served basis, and that the region prioritized permanent supportive housing in its HOME-ARP allocation plan. "Currently homeless individuals will be prioritized for the units and the referral process will be managed through the GRCOC's coordinated entry system," she said.

Board members and others praised the county's work on Ettrick Landing, a 10-unit subdivision on the former Ettrick Annex School site. Jonathan Rideau, identified in the meeting as the local chair of the Richmond Home Builders, described the project timeline and construction quality; county presenters said seven units have sold at about $160,000 and that most units are three-bedroom, two-bath and built "on grade" to avoid accessibility barriers.

The department plans to advance the consolidated-plan draft and funding recommendations through the FY-26 budget cycle and to post the draft plan online before the March community meeting for public review.