CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — Greenwood Homes pledged $1 million to the South First Street affordable housing project on Thursday.

The project is a resident-led initiative, led by the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority and spearheaded by the Dave Matthews Band’s Bama Works fun and Red Light Management. It aims to deliver more than 200 affordable homes to the area.

Greenwood Houses CEO Drew Holzwarth told Cville Right Now he hopes the project and others like it bring “stability to the community,” as the company continues its commitment to supporting affordable housing in the community.

Holzwrath said Greenwood’s involvement with the South First Street project began two years ago when Dave Matthew Band manager Ann Kingston reached out to Greenwood, inquiring if the company could help reduce some of the prices on the project. But as the company and its partner became more interested, they decided to put their money behind it.

“Without somebody advocating for this crisis and stepping up, I really think things are going to get worse before they get better,” he said. “So really, our $1 million check is to advocate for this crisis and see if we can bring more attention to it and have other business leaders lean in and help out in significant ways.”

With the rise in housing prices in the area in recent years, Holwrath said he and his company and afraid that as the Central Virginia community continues to improve economically with major upcoming developments like the Paul and Diane Manning Biotech Institute and AstraZeneca Plant, the housing crisis will continues to worsen without intervention.

The company’s most recent donation is just one of several ways Greenwood is working to bring more affordable housing to the area. In each one of tis projects across Central Virginia, the company is building affordable housing in each one.

“The commitment that I’ve made and my partner have made to Albemarle County is we are going to build all of the affordable housing that is inside of our projects,” Holzwrath said.

The company is also working closely with Habitat for Humanity and the Piedmont Community Land Trust on some of their projects. Last year, Greenwood discounted $360,000 off of six homes sold to the Piedmont Community Land Trust, which allowed the organization to put six workforce families into the homes.

“I’d like to think that it’s just the start of something that is really going to be a continued commitment of Greenwood Homes to help combat this real crisis,” Holzwrath said of the company’s recent donations.

With high hopes of furthering Greenwood’s efforts to bring more affordable housing to the area, Holzwrath said he hopes more business leaders will reach out to him personally. He said he is happy to meet with them to share what the company has already done and how they can play a role.