10-15-2025 11:02pm

First In a Series of Articles on Affordable Housing: The Example Of A Public/Non Profit Affordable Housing Initiative Just Might Work In Spotsylvania County

John Williams Editor

Senior Pastor Henry Brinton spoke at the Ceremonial Ground Breaking of Glebe View Affordable Housing at Fairfax Presbyterian Church, October 2024.

For a long time in Spotsylvania County, we have had a lack of affordable housing. As more and more people move down I-95 Teachers, Firefighters, Health Care workers etc have had to move to other counties to find cheaper housing. It’s time for all of us to think outside of the box about how we use our land to keep these people in our county.

There is an Affordable Housing initiative I am involved with up in Northern Virginia. It will lower the monthly mortgage payment for the owner. Townhome owners will be able to live in the area where they work in.

Glebe View Affordable Housing

An affordable housing partnership between Fairfax Presbyterian Church, Habitat For Humanity, Homestretch, And Home Aid.

I am one of the 12 original members of the Affordable Housing Team at Fairfax Presbyterian Church in Fairfax VA. I truly believe Housing is both a Public and Private Trust. Public/Non Profit partnerships are the way to go. We as a Church are building 10 Affordable Townhouse Units on the property of the church. We will be able to build on 2 of the 8 acres of property owned by the National Capital Presbytery of Washington DC.

After 8 years of negotiations with the Planning Commission and City Council of the City of Fairfax we were able to get our property rezoned. The heavy construction equipment is going to start digging the foundations for those townhouse units at the end of October.

The project is a partnership between Fairfax Presbyterian Church, Habitat for Humanity, Homestretch, a transitional housing agency for the Homeless, and Home Aid an organization that will provide the construction materials and tradesmen.

Two of the units will be known as Sacred Homes, a partnership between Fairfax Presbyterian and Homestretch to deal with the issue of Homelessness in our community. The other units will be sold through Habitat. The construction will be through Habitat and most of the construction materials and tradesmen will be dominated by Home Aid.

For more information about the project contact Fairfax Presbyterian Church.

www.fairxpresbyterian.org

Look for Information and updates at
https://www.fairfaxpresbyterian.org/affordable-housing

https://youtu.be/wrjjG5PUYzw?si=tCIOcojCNlccyYQo

https://youtu.be/kCcL6wtr03k?si=

I am not saying we copy this type of affordable housing initiative but we need to organize a group of people to look at our county’s stock of land where these people can live in affordable housing. It’s a lot better than building more apartments in the county.

More News from Spotsylvania Courthouse

Germanna Community College and The University of Mary Washington closed today Germanna Community College and The University of Mary Washington are closed today
School Closings and Delays DC MD VA School Closing and Delays MD DC VA

1 3

I'm interested

I disagree with this

This is unverified

Spam

Offensive

Replies

Marcus Garcia Neighbor

10-17-2025 4:45am

This is an excellent example of unconventional thinking and strategy to attempt to alleviate a long term problem. Public, private partnerships can be a powerful tool to find solutions to many of society's most pressing issues, but there needs to be a heart change that allows residents to accept change and allow affordable housing. It should not have taken 8 years to approve a simple rezoning for affordable housing.

I disagree with this

This is unverified

Spam

Offensive

John Williams Editor

10-17-2025 12:24pm

Thank you for your support. Thinking outside the box is the way to go. We had six very sold proposals. Some of us including including me were charged to research one and report back to the group. I met with officials from Pathways transitional housing for individuals who were copping with drug, alcohol, and mental issues. Each of the reports were presented and voted on. Mine was voted down due to safety concerns being so close to the nursery school on the property.

We went from 6 to 3 proposals . Habitat contacted Homestretch and Home Aid. They argued 1 proposal would be unique. The committee as a whole voted to accept the 1 proposal.