Better Housing Coalition

Lower income older adults need consistent and committed health and wellness opportunities and services in order to successfully age in place in their own homes in the community with a high quality of life, dignity, and less cost to society. BHC has 700 seniors living in eight communities. Their average age is 75, and 25 percent are between 85 and 103 years old. Their average income is $11,546, and 56 percent have incomes of less than $10,000. BHC provides a comprehensive health and wellness program to seniors. Our goal is to help our seniors stay healthy and active so that they can successfully age in place. We assist seniors to target and maintain chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes through education, exercise and nutrition. We also offer entitlements assistance as well as programs and activities such as reminiscence groups, painting and writers workshops that stimulate the mind and memory. Our planning services assist residents with end-of-life affairs and hospice support for those who want to remain in their home during life-limiting illness. The cost to provide these needed services to each senior is low -- $7,300 a year or $21/day including their rent. This is about one tenth of the cost to taxpayers if a senior had to move to a nursing home with public assistance. The funds are raised from the private philanthropic community, and for every dollar raised, another four are leveraged from community partners which make these comprehensive services to seniors possible. The majority of our senior residents remain with BHC for the rest of their lives.

BHC provides a myriad of services and supports for our adult residents. Higher education scholarships, vocational training and support services are an integral part of a total self-sufficiency plan. Targeted services are provided by our on-site social work staff who also leverage a wide array of community partners and resources. These services are available to residents in any of our communities, but our concentration has been at Winchester Greens and Lincoln Mews. The services help eliminate the obstacles that keep residents from successfully gaining and maintaining employment that can move families toward greater security and begin to build family wealth.

The affordable high-quality homes BHC constructs and rehabilitates provide first-time homeowners with low to moderate income access to equity and wealth building. Home ownership helps stabilize neighborhoods and is an important component of healthy communities. By embracing green building practices by building to EarthCraft standards, a certification program which serves as a blueprint for comfortable, energy efficient homes, homeowners have lower maintenance and utility bills. While BHC single-family homes incorporate modern green features, such as solar hot water heating systems, they are designed with classic architectural details which blend seamlessly with the surrounding neighborhood. To date, BHC has built and rehabilitated more than 180 single-family homes throughout the metro Richmond region in neighborhoods including Church Hill, Carver and Blackwell. Through various municipal and private organizations, down payments and closing cost grants are available to qualified buyers. These grants can reduce down payments to as little as $2,000. Our homeowners have 30 year fixed mortgages with monthly payments between $800 and $1000. We also ensure that all of our home owners have pre- and post-purchase counseling. In more than 17 years and 180 homes we have had only two foreclosures.

BHC currently serves more than 3,500 residents in 16 affordable multi-family communities, including the eight communities for seniors. BHC operates its own property management company, BHC Management, to oversee leasing, property management and maintenance. Like BHC's single-family homes, the multi-family communities are equipped with modern energy efficient features which reduce utility costs for residents, enabling them to retain more of their income. BHC stays in each community it enters. BHC Management works closely with BHC's Community Social Work Department to ensure both the satisfaction and success of residents. Having a nice place to live in conjunction with support services truly changes lives and brings lasting transformation to the community.