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Thursday, February 13, 2025

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River Counties awards $500,000 to workforce housing

Cooks Corner grant called single largest in foundation’s history

Alan Walker shows off plans for a housing development at Cooks Corner in Middlesex County. (Photo by Mike Antonio)

Talk with community leaders about the most pressing needs in the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck, and, inevitably, they will mention housing that is affordable for middle-income workers such as teachers and police officers.

“Housing is a massive issue here,” said Alan Walker, assistant director of multifamily housing development for Bay Aging. “That’s always been true, but the need has only increased year after year.” For example, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the fair market rent for a two-bedroom unit in Middlesex County is about $1,200, Walker noted. But the actual market rate is closer to $1,750.

“For the most part, moderate- and low-income people are just priced out of the available units.”

As part of efforts to address that issue, in 2021 Bay Aging took over a planned housing development in Cooks Corner from the Middlesex Foundation. The plan calls for the construction of two 12-unit, multifamily apartment buildings to provide affordable housing for the county’s workforce.

But the original construction bid of some $4 million, made just as the COVID-19 pandemic took off, has soared to more than $6 million because of dramatic increases in the cost of labor and materials. Although Bay Aging remains committed to the project, total funding has not yet been procured, and ground has not yet been broken for the buildings, collectively known as The Residences at Rawley Park.

Urgency

Acknowledging the urgency of workforce housing development for the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck, River Counties Community Foundation (RCCF) this year approved a $500,000 grant to Bay Aging to support Rawley Park. “It is the largest single grant we’ve ever made to any organization in the history of our existence,” said Lincoln Boykin, the foundation’s director. River Counties had also awarded an initial grant of $150,000 to the Middlesex Foundation for the project. The recent award to Bay Aging brings its total investment to $650,000. The Jesse Ball duPont Fund has committed $250,000, and Virginia Housing, the state’s housing finance agency, has pledged $2,210,000.

“This is a good example of the power of collective giving — RCCF, duPont, and Virginia Housing coming together to meet this urgent need in a big way,” said Boykin…

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