Blacksburg seeking to partner with developers to create affordable housing

BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - The Town of Blacksburg is setting aside $4 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to launch the Affordable Housing Development program.

The goal is to provide families a place to live where they work.

“Housing costs are outpacing incomes and it’s only getting worse,” said Blacksburg’s Assistant to the Town Manager Matt Hanratty.

He says this $4 million will play a big role in helping ease the housing crisis in Blacksburg.

“Our goal is to get around 40 or 50 units,” Hanratty said. “If we can that are permanently affordable kind of homeownership opportunities for citizens in and around town.”

Blacksburg wants these homes to be affordable, and has a general definition for what that means for this project.

“Roughly 60% of the area median income all the way up to 120% of the area median income,” Hanratty said.

To get homes built or up to date, the town needs developers to partner with.

“Really, anybody that’s interested in creating affordable units and partnering with the town, we’d love to talk to and have a conversation if there’s an opportunity,” Hanratty said.

Any Interested developer can find the application here.

“It’s the first time we’ve ever made money available to developers, generally speaking, for creating affordable units,” Hanratty said. “I think we’re going to learn a lot from it and figure out where there’s partnership opportunities to help create some units.”

The application process is rolling, but the first round is due in February.

Blacksburg hopes to have these units complete in around four years.

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