CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors continued their unanimous backing of the Premier Circle supportive housing project, voting 5-0 Wednesday to grant the developer a tax abatement as construction moves into its second phase.

Phase 1, which has already begun, is the construction of 80 units of supportive housing, designed to help people transition from being unhoused to moving back into the housing mark. The property will also have wrap-around services to help those residents get back on their feet.

“It’s designed to help folks transition from a houseless situation into a permanent housing situation that is affordable for them,” Supervisor Ned Gallaway told Cville Right Now. “And then Virginia supportive housing has services on site to help them in terms of employment, training, budgeting – all the stuff that help support somebody to get back into a living situation that they can afford. It’s not meant for them to stay there. It’s meant for them to get back established, and then they can find and get into their own housing.”

The county invested $1 million into acquiring the property at 405 Premier Circle, and has earmarked another $1 million for construction.

Supervisor Ann Mallek said the project will be a larger version of The Crossings at Fourth and Preston in Charlottesville.

“It’s just a big brother version of the Crossings down on Preston, which has been fantastically successful for 15 years in providing wraparound services for people in transition,” Mallek said. “Help them get what they need and then they can move on to more stable housing on their won. But there are a lot of people who need some help getting themselves together first. Chasing all over town to get services is not effective.”

Phase 2, which is what the tax abatement will support, will include the construction of 60 units of affordable housing, based off average median income in the region, Mallek said.

“So, it’s a project that the board has been unanimously supportive of prior board members, current supervisors,” Gallaway said. “The prior investments we have made have been cash. A tax abatement doesn’t take cash out of the coffers. Basically, they would have to pay the tax on the property, and then they get the tax back in a form of a rebate. It reduces costs and helps get the AMIs down to make them as affordable as possible for folks.”