What will regional homeless project look like? STEPS explains

For Layne Street residents, this is about more than unanswered questions. In the months since STEPS announced plans to build a regional homeless project, the would-be neighbors claim they have already seen impacts. Houses won’t sell. And they believe this isn’t just a case of buyers getting a better offer elsewhere.

“The real estate folks have told us they’re not showing on our street because of this project,” said Jeremy Dukes. He was one of several Layne Street residents that went to the Farmville town council or planning commission meetings this month, asking for some help. And one of several to claim a link between the proposed housing project and the lack of sold homes.

“Just the publicity and uncertainty from this project has driven buyers to not want to look at our property or realtors to even show it,” claimed Lisa Elsaesser. “The house values have dropped. There’s panic. There’s been no answers to our many concerns.”

As for Monique Thomas, she just wants some information. She and many others in the group don’t understand how STEPS could make announcements and hold public meetings on the proposal, before talking to the actual would-be neighbors.

“They made an announcement to the town and they did not tell us first,” Thomas told town council members during their July meeting. “We found out about it through a public meeting.”

Now, to be fair, STEPS officials did offer to meet with the group after a public meeting on the project in June, but the offered times were during the workweek and during the day. All of these residents work first shift, so that didn’t exactly fit. They all have bills to pay, so it’s not like they can just take a day off work to ask questions. And when they have been able to ask, the answers just add to the frustration, because more often than not, they come in the form of statements like ‘it’s too soon to tell’ or ‘we don’t know yet’. Officials meanwhile ask residents for patience, as they don’t have the information yet.

“We are still working on determining uses for the property and don’t have any new information to share,” said Allison Bogdanovic in a statement to The Gazette . She works as executive director for Virginia Supportive Housing, the group who would be in charge of managing the facility once it’s up and running.

Homeless project is a process

Officials from both VSH and STEPS say it’s not that they’re trying to hide anything, but they simply don’t know the answers to a lot of the neighborhood’s questions yet. There are, however, a couple things they can make clear. First off, there will just be one 60-80 unit apartment complex on the property. That’s it. It won’t go any higher than 80 or any lower than 60. Second, as far as who will be moving in, there are plenty of homeless residents in need of help right here. The data shows from July 1, 2023 until now, STEPS has helped 75 households, including a total of 173 total people from this six county region.

Residents also have questions about how a homeless project like this is expected to work in a rural region.

Just as a refresher, the goal here from STEPS and VSH is to build a $24 million ‘supportive housing’ apartment complex on 48 acres of land. Supportive housing is designed as affordable housing to help get homeless individuals and families off the streets. But it’s a bit more than that. The concept also offers services to help homeless residents get back on their feet. We’re talking about case management, working with individuals to help them deal with things like appointment scheduling and planning ahead for rent payments. It also involves job and life skills training, so that residents understand things like time management, cooking and budgeting. But if you’re training people for jobs, will they be able to find some here? Also, there’s limited public transportation, so how would homeless residents get to and from work, if they don’t have a vehicle? Those are some of the questions neighbors want answered.

Bogdanovic said at the public meeting back in June that people will not need to have a job at the outset when applying for an apartment.

“We don’t say to folks you have to have a job before you move in,” Bogdanovic said at the June meeting. “We’re gonna deal with your basic needs first. We’re gonna take away the fear of where you’re gonna sleep tonight first.”

Will homeless project impact services?

Layne Street residents are also concerned about how it would impact services in the community.

“How will community health services cope, given the limited availability of clinical care in Central Virginia?” Layne Street resident Carol Anderson asked planning commission members at their July meeting. “Will additional mental health resources be provided to manage the anticipated increase in patients? How will residents navigate Farmville, especially Layne Street, with inadequate public transport and no job prospects? What budgetary and personnel strain will this put on emergency services, schools, police and hospitals already stretched thin? How will this affect taxes across Farmville to support increased demands?”

First off, again, STEPS officials point to the fact that the majority of those they’d be helping with this homeless project already live here, so their children go to school here now, they call fire and police as needed, and use the other local resources on a regular basis. As for mental health needs, back in June, Bogdanovic said out of the 155 staff members at VSH, 60 of those are social workers. They’re in the apartment complexes that VSH currently runs every day, helping residents work to get their GED or assist with getting disability. The idea is that when the property starts bringing in tenants, VSH would have social workers on hand to help here as well.

But while VSH has experience operating these types of complexes, this would be their first in a rural setting, and that concerns residents as well. The closest location in size would be the group’s Charlottesville operation.

STEPS still looking to buy

One of the biggest dominos yet to fall involves the property itself. STEPS does not own the 48 acres. They have the money in hand to make the purchase, but there’s still work to be done when it comes to going over the land, making sure it will fit what they’re looking to do. One thing STEPS officials want to be clear about. They’ve raised enough with private support to go through with acquiring the property, so public money won’t be used on the land. It’s just a matter of putting together the paperwork.

“We are working diligently on the closing,” said Sharon Harrup. She serves as president and CEO of STEPS. Harrup said there is no set date yet on when the land purchase will go through.

But once the land is purchased, then other pieces will start to fall in place, said Shawn Rozier. He serves as Vice President of Housing with STEPS.

“There are stages at which this project will roll out. We’re in the process now of working on the purchase,” Rozier said. “Once the purchase is completed, there will be an application in March of next year for low-income housing tax credits.”

Basically, this is going to take several steps to come together, is what both STEPS and VSH officials want to make clear. This isn’t something that will pop up ready to go next spring. Instead, as each piece of the homeless project moves forward, STEPS officials say they will let people know.

That’s why, would-be neighbors argued, it seems like the announcement and public meeting were held way too early in the process.

“They don’t even own the land,” Jeremy Dukes told the town council in their July meeting. “But they can put out in public forums that they’re going to do this and that with no idea of how long it’s gonna take?”

Apartment or shelter?

Neighbors like Dukes also challenge the claim that this would be an apartment complex. Instead, since it involves just homeless residents living there, they argue it’s more like a homeless shelter. But that currently would not be allowed under Farmville’s zoning for the Layne Street area. Instead, both groups say this homeless project will be an apartment complex, just like any other you see in town. The only difference is the limited scope of who would be living there.

“As always, our primary motivation is our mission:  ‘STEPS leads, coordinates, creates and delivers quality opportunities to impact self-sufficiency and reduce poverty throughout our region,’” Harrup said. “To that end, we intend to develop an Israel Hill project that meets the needs of the community, subject to the current requirements of the Town’s zoning ordinances.  Should our plans change, we will look to engage with the community, which is a customary part of our process.  But to be clear, we currently do not have any plans to seek a change in zoning.”

But Layne Street residents just see plenty of questions still to be answered. Until those questions are fully answered, the current residents say they have to remain opposed to the project.

“Right now I have neighbors who cannot sell their homes because STEPS and Virginia Supportive Housing have come forward with a plan that raises questions they cannot answer and requires money they do not have,” Layne Street resident John Brown said at Farmville’s July council meeting. “Their intentions may be noble, but their lack of transparency and clear indifference toward this neighborhood on Layne Street leaves me no choice but to oppose this project.”

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