Historic renovations bring housing to Roanoke’s needy.
Roanoke’s Restoration Housing is breathing new life into blighted historic-district properties while helping those in need of stable housing. Founded in 2014 by Isabel Thornton, a preservationist and affordable housing developer, the nonprofit has transformed five homes, now occupied by local nonprofits and low-income residents looking for homes in safe neighborhoods.
The Queen Anne and Victorian houses in Roanoke’s Southeast neighborhoods, where three of their projects are located, were once home to Norfolk & Western Railway workers around the 1900s. “They deteriorated due to lost industry,” Thornton, a Roanoke native, explains. “It’s a great neighborhood, close to downtown, but has not received a lot of attention from public and private developers.”
The extensive repairs these homes need is far beyond the scope of even the most starry-eyed developer or home buyer. But their nonprofit status allows Restoration Housing to access historic tax credits, grants, and donations to fund the work.
The group just restored an 1818 house—left boarded-up and neglected after a devastating fire—to its former beauty. “It’s a beautiful, classic Virginia house,” Thornton says. Now fully modernized, the home now boasts nonprofit offices and four Permanent Supportive Housing units serving residents who were previously homeless. RestorationHousing.org
(Megan Wiliams Photography)
(Megan Wiliams Photography)
This article originally appeared in the December 2021 issue.
