GAINSBORO HOUSING SURVEY BEGINNING

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 11, 1993                   TAG: 9304110066
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
GAINSBORO HOUSING SURVEY BEGINNING
Beginning week, members of the Gainsboro coalition and students from Virginia Tech will be going door-to-door in the Gainsboro neighborhood to survey residents about housing needs.
The survey is designed to provide information to use in developing a five-year plan for the repair and construction of homes in the Gainsboro area.
"Before we begin to address the needs, we saw clearly that we needed to talk with the residents and find out what areas they see as needing to be addressed," said Alvin Nash, a co-chairman of the Gainsboro Coalition Housing Task Force.
The survey will help determine the number of rental, vacant and owner-occupied houses; the age and condition of the housing stock; the residents' housing plans; and the kinds of housing programs that would be the most effective.
The Gainsboro coalition includes representatives from First Baptist Church, Southwest Virginia Community Development Fund, Gainsboro Neighborhood Development Corp., Total Action Against Poverty and city government.
Nash said all individual comments given by residents will be confidential. The surveyors will have proper identification and residents are encouraged to ask for the identification.
The surveyors will be working over two weeks to gather the information.
"There are already a number of programs to citizens to assist with housing needs," said Dan Pollock, a co-chairman of the task force.
"Once we determine the needs in the Gainsboro community, we'll be working one-on-one to make sure residents are aware of such programs and to see where gaps remain to be addressed," Pollock said.
Questions regarding the survey can be directed to Martin Jeffrey with TAP at 345-6781, extension 372.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB