Virginia Supportive Housing (VSH) opened New Clay House in 1992 as Virginia’s first permanent supportive housing community. At the time, the former Home Brewing property in Richmond’s Carver neighborhood was over 60 years old. VSH made basic renovations to the property in order to house 47 homeless single adults. Each of the 47 units was about 150square feet with only a sink and toilet, with shared community kitchens and bathrooms.
The 2018-2019 renovation and expansion of New Clay House increased the building from 47 to 80 units (plus a night monitor unit) for homeless and low-income adults earning 50% or less of the Area Median Income. Each 350 square foot unit contains a private full bathroom and a kitchenette with full-size appliances. The building now features a large community room with a kitchen and pantry, a fitness room, a computer room, a resident phone room, on-site laundry facilities, and a private outdoor courtyard. Finally, New Clay House was designed and constructed to achieve an EarthCraft Gold Certification for resource and energy efficiency and contains a photovoltaic solar array to reduce the building’s energy load and a solar thermal hot water system to pre-heat water.
The renovation and expansion of New Clay House cost approximately $19 million and was funded by multiple sources, including HUD, RRHA, Virginia DHCD, Federal Home Loan Bank, anonymous donations, and partner organizations. Davis-Bacon and Section 3 Labor Compliance monitoring was performed for the client during the renovation and expansion of New Clay House. Construction was started in 2018 and was completed in 2019.
