Habitat for Humanity completes projects in Woodlawn, Groveton areas

Habitat For Humanity of Northern Virginia has recently wrapped up two projects in the Richmond Highway area, providing new homes for a senior citizen and a family of four.

One of the two projects, a complete home renovation on Frye Road in the Woodlawn area, touched the lives of four families and was celebrated by Fairfax County in a recent news release as an example of the way community partnerships can help address the area’s affordable housing crisis.

The 995-square-foot house was purchased by Habitat in 2016 but work stalled due to the high cost of replacing the home’s heating, electrical, plumbing systems, as well as the roof. But in 2017 the organization was awarded federal HOME grant money by the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA), allowing the project to move forward.

“With the HOME funding assistance, help from Habitat’s volunteer labor army, and in-kind donor generosity, the Frye Road project was ready for occupancy in November 2019,” said Jennifer Schroeder, director of family programs for Habitat For Humanity of Northern Virginia.

The house had been previously owned by an elderly resident, who has since been moved “to a new and more positive living situation,” the county said. Habitat selected the new resident after he approached the organization, Schroeder said. The man, a veteran who needed to be near Fort Belvoir Community Hospital for treatment of health issues, had lived in Groveton Heights until a 2013 fire displaced him.

After the fire he lived in the Kennedy Shelter near Fort Belvoir for a time and then in a rental unit in Hybla Valley, Schroeder said. Unable to continue pay rent, he came to Habitat after hearing about one of the organization’s other projects in the Groveton area.

“This beneficiary was determined to continue living alone, and taking care of himself; when he came to Habitat, he was positioned to work out a way to make it happen,” said Schroeder, noting the man had paid off his former home but was now reliant on Social Security for much of his income.

Work on the house on Frye Road wrapped up last month, allowing the man — now 80 — to move in. The story doesn’t end there though — his old home in Groveton is set to be demolished to make way for two new houses, which will also be built by Habitat For Humanity of Northern Virginia. Two families have been selected to live in the houses, Schroeder said.

Fairfax County called the Frye Road project an example of how partnerships between the county and non-profits can help find housing for low- and moderate-income residents.

“This project is indicative of the kinds of partnerships that the Redevelopment and Housing Authority seeks to nurture,” FCRHA Director Tom Fleetwood said in the release. “Serving as the local housing financing authority, the FCRHA holds that partnerships and collaborations with valued partners who share our passion and vigor for this work, like Habitat for Humanity, are at the very core of our effort to ensure that affordable homes are available for households across the income spectrum.”

Habitat also completed a new single-family home just off of Richmond Highway in the Groveton area last month. That home now belongs to a family of four, including two children who attend West Potomac High School.

Schroeder said that the two homes being built on the Frye Road resident’s former land are expected to be completed by the fall of 2020. Additionally, there are three more Habitat projects slated to begin construction in the Groveton area in late 2020.

Habitat continues to be on the lookout for potential properties in the Richmond Highway corridor’s older neighborhoods, Schroeder said, but the organization isn’t always able to compete with larger developers.

“As the housing stock ages along the corridor, there are often Habitat project opportunities,” Schroeder said. “Sadly, we miss out on aplenty because we aren’t as capitalized as the for-profit developers.”

More information about the Frye Road project, including video and pictures, can be found on Fairfax County’s website.