Community agencies have come together to tackle housing insecurity and homelessness in Staunton, Augusta County and Waynesboro.
In the last 10 months, the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge, Valley Community Services Board, Augusta Health and numerous other organizations have been learning more about the housing crisis in the Shenandoah Valley.
The effort kicked off last year with a two-day housing summit in October followed by a series of “Lunch and Learn” events.
More than 60 people attended a July 11 “Lunch and Learn” in downtown Waynesboro to learn more about the next steps and review an action plan to address housing insecurity.
The action plan presented begins with four working groups who will prioritize the work that needs to be accomplished with an end goal to get everyone housed in the SAW (Staunton, Augusta County and Waynesboro) region.
Working groups
- Affordable housing stock for ownership
- Affordable rental opportunities
- Housing stability, i.e. a better coordinated system for addressing the immediate housing needs of community members including those who are unsheltered
- Housing self-sustainability, i.e. preparing individuals and families for long-term housing success
A formational meeting of the four working groups to kick off this next “action” phase is planned for Sept. 4.
There isn’t a need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to solutions but instead to bring creative and successful ideas from other communities and tailor them to something that might work in the SAW region. For example, a bus tour with local leaders to see a tiny house or successful cottage housing developments.
“If we’re going to make meaningful progress on this issue, we need to be prepared to play the long game,” said Dan Layman, the president and CEO of the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge. “The action plan is purposely broad right now and steadily will get more specific over time.
“I view this as a minimum of a 10-year endeavor. I think there are some quick wins we can pursue within 12 to 24 months,” he said. “If we’re going to get to a point where the housing stock in our community meets the demand at levels for residents in our community, we really need to be looking out at least 10 years.”
The effort is going to require community buy-in, i.e. the group will need the support of residents, businesses, nonprofits and government leaders. With community support, the groups can overcome the mentality of if we provide solutions, more homeless people will come here or yes, a solution is needed, but not in my back yard.
Most homeless people aren’t strangers – they went to school or worked in the area before a life event forced them to live in a car, with family members or worse yet, in a tent.
“We’re trying to sort of generate the body of support to encourage the municipalities to think more progressively about how they can play a role in all of this,” Layman said. “In addition to money, there’s other levers that the municipalities can pull.”
For example, adjustments can be made in zoning or incentives can be offered to developers who prioritize affordable housing.
The group also hopes to “leverage every state and federal potential resource for funding.”
A regional housing study is in the works, and the hope is that the localities will use the study as a guide as local governments begin to put together comprehensive plans.
“I think that’s going to be one key initial win,” Layman said, “if we can have what is proposed with those comprehensive plans match the data and support the kind of housing that it’s recommending, that we need, that we’re desperately short of right now.”
Other near-term wins could be new homeowner preparation and education to get people ready and in a strong financial position to purchase their first home.
Layman also thinks that within one to two years, a regional land bank could be established to begin to rehabilitate and recirculate abandoned and derelict properties.
“We really need people in the community to understand the facts, see that solutions are needed and be supportive of what needs to be done.”
SAW Housing Consortium
The SAW Housing Consortium is the working title for an executive group that will oversee the regional effort.
Layman said the vision for the consortium is to give the four working groups someone to report back to: sharing goals, timelines and obstacles.
The executive committee members will also be behind the scenes researching what resources can be brought to the table and helping find workarounds for obstacles that the groups may identify.
The working groups will be comprised of concerned citizens, people working in the field in some capacity as well as agency representatives.
“We now have a significant number of commitments from folks to participate in those working groups,” Layman said. “The next step for us, between now and the early September launch, is to see where the gaps are and then to go out and actively recruit to make sure that when we get these working groups kicked off, we’ve thought through who needs to be a part of the process.
“It may not be perfect, and those groups will continue to evolve, but I think we’ve got at least a good start.”
The working groups will be open to everyone and anyone who thinks they can bring something to the table.
“We’re not going to turn anyone away,” Layman said. “It could be that somebody is just very passionate about one of those themes, and they want to be part of the conversation, but they don’t yet know how they can contribute to it.”
An annual housing summit is also planned so the community can be brought up to date with how the work is moving forward.
The effort has been a year and a half in the making, Layman said, with a collective group brought together during COVID who decided to continue its work together after the pandemic to tackle other big issues in the community.
“I was reminiscing earlier that this collective work began in early 2023,” Layman said. “Now to look back and see how far we’ve come and that we’re preparing to launch these working groups, it’s pretty incredible to think about how far it’s come.”
The regional approach is designed so it’s not one organization picking up one piece of the overall puzzle. Instead, it’s everyone working together to connect the puzzle pieces.
“There are so many pieces to the housing puzzle,” Layman said. “We want to stop talking and start doing something. We’re thinking about big solutions. How do we get everyone housed?”
For the area’s homeless population, Layman said, the current system for finding housing is “exhausting.”
The focus now is on solving the housing crisis once and for all with long-term solutions that will make Waynesboro, Staunton and Augusta County more welcome to all of its residents including those who don’t currently have a roof over their heads.
“The frustrating thing is that we know that today, there are people who need our help that aren’t going to get it.”
Informational links
Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge
This is Home: Telling the stories of the housing insecure and housing heroes
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Search “housing insecurity” on Augusta Free Press.
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Crystal Graham
