THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 14, 1995 TAG: 9512140419
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NASSAWADOX LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
John Lee McCray stepped gingerly over newly bulldozed land Wednesday, looking for the spot where his shack used to be. But there was no trace of it. In fact, all of the decayed shanties that lined Route 13 in Nassawadox were gone.
After five years of work and nearly $1 million in state grants, the last of Nassawadox's substandard housing has been eliminated. In its place is the Sawmill Affordable Housing Community, where 17 families now have hot running water, indoor toilets, solid roofs and electricity.
``I like the whole thing,'' said McCray, who couldn't decide what he liked best about living at Sawmill. Most of the residents are kin or longtime neighbors, so the housing project retained what was sweetest in McCray's life: his community.
``I know everybody here,'' he said.
One resident said he couldn't drag his mother from Sawmill even if he wanted to.
On Wednesday, officials from the state Department of Housing and Community Development and the Virginia Housing Development Authority came to see how the state money was spent. They toured the new rental units, ate snacks, and took a good look at Sawmill's white picket fences and grateful residents.
``I wish long life for your agencies,'' Patsy Stith, mayor of Nassawadox, told the Richmond visitors. ``I personally am happy to have my tax dollars spent on programs like this.''
Later in the day, local residents took the state officials to see the Mill Run Apartments in Belle Haven, another recently completed housing project. This complex was built to replace Duertown, one of the Eastern Shore's more infamous slums.
Between Sawmill and Mill Run, the state has invested $1.8 million to provide 31 families with decent housing.
Sawmill is built like a small village. Its 14 rental units are all different sizes and shapes, and they are mixed with three owner-occupied homes. McCray's one-bedroom apartment is perfect for an elderly couple. It's attached to a much larger home.
Each unit has a tiny yard and a storage shed. Some have porches. Picket fences line the road, and the children have a fenced playground.
Residents of both projects pay 30 percent of their income for rent. McCray, 71, who shares his apartment with Betty Ann Rolley, 59, pays $67 a month - $7 more than he used to pay.
McCray remembers his former housing conditions all too well.
``A dump, you might have called it, 'cause that's what it was,'' said McCray. ``Raggedy houses.''
He moved into one of the rotting shacks near the railroad tracks in Nassawadox after his home in Hare Valley burned. Like all of the houses nearby, it had no running water and no bathroom. Most of the homes were falling to pieces. They were heated by sooty, dangerous kerosene stoves.
``At the time, I was grateful because I had nowhere to live,'' said McCray. But the landlord didn't make any repairs, saying it wasn't worth fixing. That made McCray angry, sometimes.
``He knew it wasn't a decent home to start with,'' he said.
McCray's sparsely furnished apartment in Sawmill has few amenities. The floors are not carpeted, the kitchen has a stove, a sink and a few cabinets. Nothing else. But he doesn't have to pump and carry water in the morning, and the electricity works.
``You don't have to do anything but push a button and that's it,'' he said, thrilled with the conveniences of his new lifestyle.
To build Sawmill, the town of Nassawadox joined hands with private developer Thomas J. Hill, who applied for and received a Virginia Housing Partnership Fund Loan. The project recently won the Governor's Housing Achievement Award for public/private partnerships.
``With this type of public/private joint commitment we can eradicate substandard housing throughout the Eastern Shore and the commonwealth,'' said David Caprara, director of the state Department of Housing and Community Development, after the tour. ILLUSTRATION: VICKI CRONIS photos/The Virginian-Pilot
A neighbor holds Triniqua Ayers, 3, during dedication of new housing
in Nassawadox on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Community Block grants
funded housing for families - like Triniqua and her mother, Nawanda
Ayers, who was a speaker at the ceremony.
Sawmill's 14 rental units are different sizes and shapes. John Lee
McCray's one-bedroom apartment is attached to a home.
by CNB