VHA is excited to introduce March’s member spotlight, Renovation Alliance.
Renovation Alliance works to lift the quality of affordable housing in the Roanoke Valley area by providing free critical and necessary home repair services to its neighbors in need. In 2024, the organization invested $756,181 in direct project expenses (i.e. materials, supplies, professional labor) to rebuild 95 homes. The median cost to Renovation Alliance per project in 2024 was $6,772, compared to the market value of these services which exceeds $11,000. The average household income of persons served by the organization is just over $21,000 annually – in short, many of their community members are absolutely unable to afford the necessary maintenance and repairs to their home, much less the high cost of emergency home repairs like a failed heating system.
Mr. Walker, a homeowner in the City of Roanoke, worked full time in IT until he developed a condition that left him with severe migraines and debilitating light sensitivity. Living on a limited income, he no longer had the ability to pay for necessary home repairs. He tried for years to get his heating system repaired but could never find a way to cover the costs. When he reached out to the department of social services for their emergency heating assistance, Mr. Walker had been living without a heat source in his home for 4 years. The local department of social services referred him to Renovation Alliance.
Renovation Alliance was able to answer Mr. Walker’s call thanks to Community Development Block Grant funding awarded to the organization by the City of Roanoke. A few days after Mr. Walker’s first call to Renovation Alliance, he called again to say, “when the [HVAC] van pulled up, it almost put me in tears because it meant somebody was actually helping”.
“VHA membership has opened our organization to many opportunities for connection and greater awareness of other housing efforts in Virginia. One of our greatest benefits of membership is participation in the AmeriCorps VISTA program which has increased our capacity to serve homeowners in need” – Kendall Cloeter, Executive Director