The Need is Great: FLHF Tackles Housing
Challenges in Louisa County
by Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt
FLHF relies heavily on grants and donations that help support its essential home repair and affordable housing programs (submitted photo).
Drive through the 511 square miles that make up Louisa County, and it’s obvious: many of the homes in this traditional rural area are in desperate need of attention. Less obvious, perhaps, are the people who reside in them.
The Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation (FLHF) has been addressing housing needs since the 1980s. Established to provide basic indoor plumbing to those lacking essential services, over the decades, FLHF has become a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating sustainable and affordable housing solutions. Originally focused on addressing immediate needs, its mission has evolved to encompass a broader range of housing challenges. This has included issues related to affordable rentals, emergency repairs and pathways to homeownership.
Through collaborative efforts and community solidarity, FLHF aims to ensure that all residents have access to safe and affordable housing while fostering vibrant neighborhoods in the process.
Essential home repair
Local resident Kim Hyland has been the organization’s executive director since 2020. During that time, she said they have seen a dramatic uptick in need and requests for services.
Many of those requests come through FLHF’s Essential Home Repair Program, which helps residents make critical repairs to their homes. The program covers various needs such as roof replacements, heating and cooling systems, plumbing, electrical systems, and well and septic system repairs. While grant funding often contributes to these repairs, grants typically do not cover full project costs. To bridge this gap, FLHF provides zero-interest loans with manageable repayment options.
For example, Hyland said, if a repair has an estimated cost of $6,000 and a grant covers $3,000, the homeowner might make a $500 down payment. This would be followed by a $2,500 loan repaid in monthly installments of $100 over 25 months. This process allows the foundation to recycle funds, ensuring ongoing support for home repairs and reinforcing a sustainable financial model that benefits multiple families.
“We have very prescribed funding requirements,” Hyland explained. “So, for our home repairs – most of the funds that we utilize – the people are required to be under 50% AMI, or area median income.”
The need is great.
Local contractors lend time and talents to FLHF’s affordable housing and repairs programs (submitted photo).
Contractors install a much-needed ramp on a resident’s home (submitted photo).
“It’s just a massive number of projects, and they’re major projects like a roof or an HVAC system, and sometimes more than one system,” Hyland said. “So, this program does several things. Of course, it keeps people in habitable housing and improves our housing, but in a lot of situations, it actually prevents them from becoming homeless.”
Hyland explained that FLHF often comes across clients whose houses would have been condemned had they lived in a more populated area. “There’s no way they would be allowed to live there,” she said. “I mean, you drive around, right? And you see it. And there are people living in all of those homes that you look at, and you go, that’s not habitable. But there’s almost a guarantee that there’s someone living in there.”
Hyland described the condition of the homes, saying, “These are people who literally have roofs that are leaking. They have pipes that are rupturing. They don’t have heat. There’s one guy up the road from me… he didn’t have heat for eight years. And no one knew.”
Affordable housing
In addition to repair services, FLHF owns and operates a number of affordable rental properties in Louisa and Fluvanna counties. These are specifically designed to be high-quality, energy-efficient, and often accessible to individuals with disabilities. One of their notable facilities features a four-unit complex equipped with solar power to minimize energy costs for tenants.
However, demand for affordable rentals frequently exceeds availability. While FLHF currently manages 27 units, there are over 90 individuals and families on a waitlist. Recognizing this pressing need, the organization is actively working to construct more affordable housing units to provide residents with reliable options.
On May 13, Louisa residents and community leaders gathered to celebrate the future construction of 25 affordable housing units (submitted photo).
The newest complex on Resource Lane in Louisa, which broke ground this year, will contain 16 one-bedroom senior living units and nine two-bedroom units for essential personnel housing. These units have a preference for housing local fire personnel, deputies, EMTs, teachers, and county workers. The estimated timeline for completion of the project is mid-2026.
“We have a lot of older retired folks who want to stay here in Louisa,” Hyland said. “They want to live here. They’ve lived their whole lives here, but their house might be deteriorating. They have high maintenance needs. They really don’t want the land to maintain.”
Hyland explained how the program can help. “We want to put some of those people into our one-bedroom units that we’re building and to be able to rehab the property they’re in, she said. “Either knock down the house if it’s in bad shape and rebuild, or just rehab the house that’s there.” Rehabilitated homes can then be used as more affordable housing.
The power of education
Education also plays a vital role in FLHF’s mission, with three key programs designed to promote financial literacy and empower potential homeowners: “Budgeting and Credit Reports,” “On the Path to Home Ownership,” and “First Time Homebuyer.”
By collaborating with the organization Virginia Housing, FLHF also has access to other programs which lower the lending rate for qualified applicants.
Hyland said education is key to sustainability and that FLHF is dedicated to helping individuals evaluate their budget, credit histories, and finances to improve credit scores and increase financial knowledge. This comprehensive assistance fosters a pathway towards homeownership for those who may otherwise feel excluded from the housing market.
Keeping it in the community
For Louisa County Coordinator Annabelle Anderson, FLHF’s mission hits close to home. Originally from Louisa County, she grew up on the western side in the Green Springs district. She attended Louisa Public Schools for K-12, graduating from Louisa County High School in 2020. After spending some time out of state, Anderson returned to the county a few years ago.
Roger, a 77-year-old resident, went without heat for two months this past winter. He reached out to FLHF for assistance when he and his adult son with disabilities were bundling up indoors. FLHF expedited ordering and installing a whole-house oil stove in the middle of January’s deep freeze (submitted photo).
More than 75% of FLHF’s clients are elderly, disabled or both (submitted photo).
“This is home for me,” she said. “I always knew I wanted to help people when I was growing up, even if I didn’t always know what that looked like. So, getting this opportunity to help people in my hometown in such an impactful way is truly full circle for me. In the end, we’re just helping out our neighbors.”
Hyland’s presence in Louisa County also helps the foundation’s ability to serve its neighbors effectively. “Everyone that we have on staff lives here locally,” she said. “We live in the community that we serve, and that’s huge.”
This localized engagement not only fosters trust; it also allows the foundation to quickly identify and respond to specific housing needs within the community. This ability enhances the organization’s outreach and effectiveness.
“We have a lot of local contractors that we hire, and we have preferred contractors like the gentleman that does our roofs for us,” she said. “He is a general contractor who builds houses, but to keep it in the community – to keep his guys busy in between jobs – he does roofs for us, and he does them for bargain-basement prices. So he pays his guys, and he pays for the materials, and he doesn’t take anything out of that.”
Hyland is grateful for the contractors who provide services, as she knows they could earn more on for-profit ventures.
FLHF also works with Louisa County Public Schools’ Career and Technical Education (CTE) program.
“We built two of our houses with Bo Bundrick and the CTE program,” she explained. “We want to do more of that in the future. They’ll be helping us out when we build our new community with things like porches and laying floors and whatever work we can incorporate. We’ll need to hook up the homes for the utilities, too, and there are kids who are learning the trades that can do that for us.”
Volunteers are also essential to FLHF’s mission, as the organization relies on individuals and groups to build ramps and perform home repairs, according to Hyland. There are numerous opportunities available for engagement, ranging from skilled construction work to simple community service. Hyland said she always encourages volunteers to apply, that the need is great, and volunteers are highly valued.
Meeting the needs of a changing community
The foundation’s dedication reflects the growing pressures faced by vulnerable populations in the area, particularly as economic conditions have shifted in recent years. The people who need FLHF’s services vary, but overall, they push against myths surrounding people who need affordable housing and related services.
“A lot of our folks have encountered a difficulty where they’ve been sick, they’ve been ill, they’ve had a family tragedy, they were out of work,” said Hyland. “They’re struggling to get back on their feet again.”
For example, Hyland explained, there was a mother whose child died by suicide. “She was just wrecked mentally,” Hyland said. “She needed a new roof. She would have buckets, but then she removed the buckets and put down towels because she said the noise was too much for her.”
Hyland said the woman cried when FLHF helped her get a new roof. “It just gave her that mental fortitude, knowing somebody cared enough to help her. It really pushed her in her recovering from her daughter’s death to kind of be able to stand back on her own again,” Hyland said. “That’s our goal.”
More than 75% of FLHF’s clients are elderly, disabled or both.
“Things in our community are changing, and whether or not you see it, there are a lot of local people struggling,” said Anderson. “If there’s any time to come together and pull in the same direction, it’s now.”
FLHF is located at 144 Resource Lane in Louisa. Applications for programs and volunteer opportunities are available, and residents are encouraged to reach out for further assistance or additional information. More information is available at www.fluvannalouisahousing.org or by calling 540-967-3483.
Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt is a Louisa County resident and an award-winning author and poet. Learn more about her at www.KatherineGotthardt.com.
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