Victoria Ridge

Tax CreditsImpact Stories

Sep 16

Written By Campfire & Co.

Project Impact

“At the time, we had no track record in LIHTC projects. VCDC’s technical support helped us build one.” Jeff Smith, executive director of Rush Homes, is candid about his nonprofit’s knowledge of LIHTC in 2010--and why they needed to figure it out. Then, as now, the waiting list of people with disabilities and low incomes needing an affordable place to live reached well into the hundreds. “The last number I read was 500 in the Lynchburg area,” Smith said, “just like the lists in Roanoke, Danville, Charlottesville, Richmond. It tells us there’s a huge need for this type of housing.” Rush homes has been serving this population for two decades, mostly financing homes through government sources. Victoria Ridge was its first LIHTC project, and Smith turned to VCDC to help bring it to life.

Victoria Ridge is an apartment community of accessible and affordable homes for people with disabilities in Lynchburg, VA. The property is a new construction and has 16 one-bedroom and 8 two-bedroom apartments, each with spacious floor-plans designed to be fully accessible for people with mobility impairments. It is located in a historic district, on a bus line, within a Qualified Census Tract. The project received financial support from VHDA, DHCD, the City of Lynchburg, and Lynchburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority in recognition of its unique mission to serve people with physical disabilities.

Following Victoria Ridge, VCDC has collaborated with RUSH homes on two other developments, creating a total of 80 units to serve a vulnerable population in Lynchburg. The most recent, Old Forest Village, closed in 2017. “These projects are complex,” Smith acknowledges. “We couldn’t make them work without VCDC’s support.”