Habitat for Humanity is set to open a door for opportunity in the Star City as it hands over the keys to two completed houses to Family Promise of Greater Roanoke.
Family Promise, an organization that strives to combat homelessness and help people get back on their feet, will then manage these homes as rental units for families in need.
The project is a first-of-its-kind and is part of the $2.6 million ARPA grant award HFHRV received following the COVID-19 pandemic. The City of Roanoke awarded the competitive grant funds in July 2022, which allowed Habitat to build the two single-family detached houses. The aim is to ensure more community members have a roof over their heads.
10 News spoke with Amy Morgan, the Executive Director of Family Promise of Greater Roanoke, who shared more about the organization and the project’s overall mission.
“Family Promise is a nonprofit that works specifically with homeless families and provides shelter as well as intensive case management and aftercare programming to help families that are currently experiencing homelessness into stable housing,” said Morgan.
Families who have finished the program or are ready to enter into housing will then be allowed to rent the home for 6 to 12 months so that they can attain a rental history and go into other permanent housing in the future.
Morgan explained that there are specific requirements to make note of.
“Everyone is screened through our intake process and they will enter our shelter program, so they have to be homeless. They have to have children and they have to be employed and working toward the goal of sustainability, making sure that they’ve done budgeting, financial planning and other kinds of lifestyle building in order to get into this program.”
Habitat for Humanity helps to provide affordable housing for families in the Roanoke Valley and they’re closing in on their 300th house.
Senior Director of Community Engagement of Habitat for Humanity Betty Jean Wolfe said this partnership with Family Promise will help the families that group serves.
“Many times, these families all of whom are working at this point struggle with identifying a place that they can afford that will house their family,” said Wolfe.
Habitat for Humanity will be dedicating two homes, one located on Salem Avenue and the other one on Madison Avenue.
There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony taking place at 10 a.m., which you can watch on our website and other streaming devices.
Habitat for Humanity is also using the ARPA grant funds to dedicate a home to the Blue Ridge Independent Living Center, which will be dedicated at the end of March.
“So, their clients will have an opportunity to have short term rental in order to learn how to be more independent in dealing with their disability. It could be blindness or some kind of paraplegic situation in which they are learning independence. Habitat will be, over time, entering into more rental opportunities, in which case we will be running a program in order to help look for families who are not ready for permanent home ownership opportunities, which Habitat has been doing in its existence but are looking for that interim step of rental,” said Wolfe.
