Warner's visit to affordable housing groundbreaking spotlights Henrico as innovative, national model
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Henrico County, state and federal officials symbolically broke ground on a 20-home affordable townhouse subdivision this week, made possible by the Henrico Affordable Housing Trust Fund, a program designed to make home ownership more accessible by lowering the construction costs, and therefore the purchase prices, of newly constructed homes.
“This just isn't done in that many places,” said Virginia Senator Mark Warner at the silver shovel ceremony Sept. 8. “We all know the quickie housing facts; the average age of first-time homebuyers in America is 38, that's way too old. We're 6 million units short. We've got to drive supply, and your county is doing as innovative a project as anything I've seen, not only in Virginia but in the country.”
The new development planned at 9214-9216 Quioccasin Road, dubbed Pemberton Row, will be built by Center Creek Homes with units slated to be available by next March.
The Henrico Board of Supervisors established the Henrico Affordable Housing Trust Fund during the 2024-25 fiscal year to expand community access to affordable homeownership, earmarking $60 million garnered from taxes gleaned from data centers located in Henrico County. The fund, administered by the county’s nonprofit partner Partnership for Housing Affordability, aims to support the sale of 750 homes during its first five years, targeting buyers with incomes between 60% of area median income and 120% of AMI.
According to the program's website, to ensure long-term affordability, the program includes covenants that maintain the homes' affordable prices and guarantee they remain owner-occupied.
By the numbers
According to Henrico County data, eligibility for the program equates (for a family of three) to a household income ranging from $61,300 at 60% AMI to $122,650 at 120% AMI.
So far, more than 120 new homes have been approved for sale to qualifying first-time buyers in a handful of communities located throughout the county:
• The Crossings at Mulberry in the Fairfield District;
• Discovery Ridge in the Tuckahoe District;
• Parkside Townes in the Varina District;
• Landmark condos in the Varina District, which will be available in November.
Pemberton Row’s three-story, four-bedroom townhomes will be available for approximately $350,000 for qualifying buyers with incomes at or below 120% of the AMI. That's about $110,000 below market price, according to publicity materials distributed at Monday's event.
A family of four could qualify with an annual household income of up to $136,000.
Among the homebuyers who already have benefited from the county's program is a single woman who works as a fast food restaurant manager with a $45,000 annual income, according to a PHA official.
“At Mungo Homes [Discovery Ridge], we saw a lot of families with small children move in with an average income of $105,000 a year,” said PHA Special Project Director Shelby Carney. “It's a great location for that kind of family size, as it's located directly behind a church that has a weekend farmer's market. They provide childcare on site. It was a three-bedroom large with an extra-large bonus room in that model. So perfect for small families. We have some two-bedroom products too, that are well suited for singles or small families.”
A new project coming online is River East by Maggie Walker Trust, a mixed income subdivision in the Varina District that will have 14 single family detached units.
“That's exciting for us because all the awarded projects thus far have been townhomes and condos,” Carney said. “This is the first time we're bringing single family detached to market.”
Henrico as a national model
Warner, hours earlier, had been a part of an affordable housing conference in the county at which he touted Henrico’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund to the group as a statewide model. And in the U.S. Senate, Warner has been describing the program as a model for other communities to emulate nationally.
What he likes about the program, Warner said, is that the county took controversial data center development and devoted that revenue to the specific affordable housing need.
“Henrico has used those funds to both lower the land costs but also lower some of the regulatory costs around sewer connection fees and other permitting fees,” Warner said after the event. “You're talking total close to $30,000 or $40,000 off the price of a unit in a really creative way, because so many communities, for them to be willing to give up the revenue that comes from the sewer fees, for example, that's forward-leaning. End of the day, you got a healthier housing mix with more home ownership.”
At the ceremony, Tuckahoe District Supervisor Jody Rogish said the trust fund is an innovative solution, carefully tailored to help first-time homebuyers meet the income and other requirements.
“It's going to help by reducing the cost of homeownership that some of our hard-working residents can use to build equity – child care workers, forklift operators,” Rogish said. “We heard the ambulance drivers, firefighters and police officers. Many individuals who do not have six figure paychecks yet, their roles are essential for all of us.”
The median house price in the Tuckahoe District hit almost $500,000 this past summer.
“This is a wonderful place to live, and we need options for people that are more affordable,” said Rogish, who credited Varina District Supervisor Tyrone Nelson with developing the trust fund concept.
“Whenever you see ribbon cuttings like this and groundbreaking ceremonies, you're seeing the fruit of a lot of work that's already taken place before dirt starts turning,” said PHA Executive Director Jovan Burton. “I think it's a great representation of what's possible through public private partnerships, working between nonprofit local government and the private sector and the opportunities that that will bring to fruition.”
'There's not a community in Virginia that doesn't have a housing crisis'
Pemberton Row will be Center Creek Homes’ first project of this size in Henrico County. The company specializes in “infill” developments (those that utilize vacant, undeveloped or underdeveloped sites within existing urban or suburban areas). Center Creek Homes CEO Dan Magder and COO Greg Shron worked with PHA to apply for the program’s funding and other benefits.
At the celebratory event on Monday, Warner said the Henrico County Affordable Housing Trust Fund was a concept he had widely shared at housing-focused town hall he convened with experts from around Virginia as a solution to rising housing costs.
“Even if there was not the new revenue coming in from the data centers, even for this board to say, ‘Okay, we're going to carve out $60 million from our existing budget and dedicated to this purpose,' [that means] having new economic development that's going to generate new revenue and putting aside for a purpose, because there's not a community in Virginia that doesn't have a housing crisis,” Warner said.
Warner believes the federal government could play a key a role in encouraging affordable housing through the development of policy to support communities that want to develop empty commercial strips into affordable housing.
He also noted a dozen bills introduced out by the U.S. Senate Banking Committee that incentivize quicker and cheaper zoning to move along the process to develop affordable housing in communities. One with the name YIGBY, meaning 'Yes In God’s Back Yard' (a play on YIMBY, meaning 'Yes In My Backyard') would encourage religious institutions with declining congregations to develop their land into affordable housing.
Henrico County Community Revitalization Director Eric Leabough, whose department works directly with the PHA to encourage more housing and also reviews trust fund program developer applications, said he will be happy to see Pemberton Row under construction and then occupied.
“I was very excited to see the public private partnership between the county and the PHA and to see the work all come together,” Leabough said. “The impact on the community is wonderful.”
Those looking to purchase a home through the Henrico Affordable Housing Trust Fund program can learn about eligibility requirements and search available homes by clicking here.
Dina Weinstein is the Citizen’s community vitality reporter and a Report for America corps member, covering housing, health and transportation. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.
