Housing

For the past few years fewer people have been moving to Virginia. Instead more are actually leaving the Commonwealth, moving to other states -- and they’re heading south. 

Remember when the mortgage loan industry almost brought down the global economy? Virginia Senator Mark Warner says we haven’t fully recovered from that, and he’s working to make long-term change. 

The Governor announced Wednesday the first of a new type of grant, state dollars going towards housing and community development projects. The first two recipients of the Vibrant Community Initiative are in Richmond, and Blacksburg.

They’re often called, ‘the new old fashioned neighborhoods of the future’ planned communities, where the focus is on collaboration, cooperation and sustainability.  It’s an idea that came from Denmark and it’s beginning to take hold in Virginia. 

“This is sort of the periphery of the building area, the actual building area is a little further in.”

Shelter is a big problem for many people in Virginia. Up to 40,000 may be homeless for some period of time during any given year, with many cycling through housing and back to the streets.

Now, a Central Virginia group is using art and interior design to attack the problem.

The Haven day shelter is one block from the popular pedestrian mall in Charlottesville, in a stately, brown-brick church built in 1837. The sign out front reads, “The Haven, everyone needs a place to start.”