Powhatan presenters say local steps can expand housing options for workers and seniors

Susan Winski, representing the committee and speaking with Habitat partners, told the Planning Commission that a 20-member housing affordability committee spent roughly nine months studying local needs and surveying residents. "Powhatan needs more housing choices," Winski said, summarizing the group’s conclusion.

The committee said 899 residents responded to a spring survey: 73% said county workers should be able to find housing in Powhatan and more than 60% said households making under $80,000 lacked options. Winski used two personas from the survey — "Alice," a working single parent, and "Mary," an older resident — to illustrate common needs: she cited a household survival figure of about $63,372 for a single parent with day care and noted the area median income (AMI) the committee used was about $110,000.

The committee recommended a set of locally driven actions. Those include a single, easy-to-find county webpage that aggregates housing help (replicating an approach Winski said she liked from nearby Louisa County), appointing a housing liaison inside county staff to coordinate services, and pursuing small-scale, intentionally designed rental projects such as 16–20 unit developments or adaptive reuse for seniors and county employees. "We're thinking of intentional creation of new small scale affordable rental housing," Winski said.

On financing, the presentation urged use of land donations, state HOME funds and other grant sources. Winski explained that Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) are a federal financing tool that supports developers by providing credits convertible to equity; she said projects financed this way often commit a portion of units to households at or below 60% of AMI. The committee also recommended exploring a targeted "essential-worker" preference for a share of units in local programs so employees who live or work in the county get priority.

The committee emphasized repair and home-modification programs for older residents and low-income homeowners. Deputy Sheriff Rudy Gregory, who served on the committee, told the commission many clients the sheriff's office encounters earn under $30,000 and face deferred maintenance, heating or accessibility needs that partner nonprofits and volunteer groups sometimes address through ad hoc referrals and contractor assistance.

Winski also proposed piloting limited faith-based housing programs that let churches place a capped number of small units on underused church property. "This would just offer more housing stock overall to the county," she said, while adding caps and safeguards would be important.

Commissioners asked about survey reach and representativeness after at least one attendee said they had not seen the survey; Winski said outreach combined county social channels, library tabling and senior-group efforts and that the committee compiled district-level breakdowns and written comments.

The committee asked staff to investigate several follow-ups — including development of an accessible resource page, the staffing liaison option, and potential small-scale pilot projects — and offered to provide more detailed district-level results on request. The Planning Commission scheduled further housing-focused discussion for a later workshop.

Ending: Staff said it will circulate the committee’s district-level survey results and follow up on specific program costs and potential partners before the next workshop.