Press Release: May 6, 2020
The Community Emergency Response Fund Supports Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority Residents by Funding Two Months of Rent for All Public Housing Residents
The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority (CRHA) received welcome news Wednesday. CRHA’s application to the Community Emergency Response Fund (CERF) of the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation was selected for funding in the amount of $184,982. The proposal, developed with help from PHAR and Legal Aid, requested enough funds to waive rental payments for the months of May and June for all our public housing residents. The two month rental waiver covers residents living in our Westhaven, South First Street, Sixth Street, Crescent Halls, Riverside Ave., Michie Dr. and Madison Ave. communities and 5 CRHA owned single family homes.
CRHA serves a critical role in supporting our local communities’ low-income population. Many of our residents already lived paycheck to paycheck before the COVID-19 crisis triggered deep reductions in household income. Those residents who are still working are serving essential roles in the Charlottesville community. The staff at CRHA has been working hard to keep up services for our residents and we are so grateful to the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation for allowing us to support our residents during this difficult time.
From the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation: “The Foundation is proud to have seen the need for an immediate and systemic response to support our most vulnerable residents and opened the Community Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to meet those needs. Working with community partners has helped us deploy those resources in innovative ways. This grant to CRHA, for example, will free up funds for residents of Public Housing to purchase food and pay bills that they would have otherwise spent on rent over the next two months. Ultimately, this is about neighbors caring for neighbors. Although much has changed in our world, that continues to be fundamental to what the Community Foundation stands for. We have been humbled by the generosity of those who continue to support this work and those that have entrusted their stories with us.”
Contacts:
Kathleen Glenn-Matthews, Interim Executive Director, Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, matthewsk@d5m.c8f.myftpupload.com
Brendan Wolfe, Director of Marketing & Communications, Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, bwolfe@cacfonline.org.