Increasingly, conversations around affordable housing have included the constellation of needs beyond the physical structure of the house. Proximity to amenities, transportation, and job centers are considered assets to developments. Agrihoods are ways of linking housing explicitly to amenities and food access, by placing them on the same site and fostering small communities with opportunities for
recreation and food production. While these are often luxury developments, a new agrihood in Chesterfield, Virginia has a vision of opening access to food and land justice to underserved communities in Central Virginia. Three nonprofit organizations are at the table of this partnership: Happily Natural Day (HND), Girls For A Change (GFAC), and the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust (MWCLT). The homeownership component of the Agrihood will consist of 10 permanently affordable homes, sold through MWCLT’s program. The agricultural component will be spearheaded by Duron Chavis of HND, and will include job training coordination with GFAC and a community event space for offerings such as regular farmer’s markets. Though it is sometimes overlooked, housing costs are directly impacted by issues of food security, employment opportunities, the urban heat island effect, and stormwater management. This project will tie community, ecological and agricultural amenities to affordable homeownership in perpetuity.
