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Town of Blacksburg Roanoke–Lee Street Neighborhood Improvement

Overview

The Roanoke-Lee Street Neighborhood is a predominantly African-American community adjoining the downtown area and located within the Town's Historic Overlay District. Increasing housing demand by Virginia Tech students has inflated the cost of rental property and depleted much of the affordable housing stock in the Town.

Approach

In order to preserve the housing stock for Blacksburg's traditional service sector workforce, the Town conducted a 2002 CDBG funded Planning Study, with assistance from K. W. Poore & Associates, Inc., to target neighborhoods for improvement and preservation.

The project was awarded a $1M construction grant in 2003 by VDHCD for housing rehabilitation, single family and duplex housing production, down payment assistance and infrastructure improvements.