HENRY COUNTY, Va. (rbs news now) — Henry County officials, community leaders, and local partners gathered on May 20 to break ground on a new housing development in the Villa Heights neighborhood.

The project, a collaboration between the Henry County Board of Supervisors, the Harvest Foundation, and the West Piedmont Planning District Commission (WPPDC), will bring 13 single-family homes to an area formerly marred by drug-related blight, according to officials.

“All of them will be either two-bedroom or three-bedroom homes. They will be affordable,” said Lee Clark, Henry County’s Director of Planning, Zoning and Inspections. “Henry County is doing this not because we want to be in the housing business. We’re doing this because we feel like we need to be — just for a short period of time. We want to create an environment where other developers will see the potential and run with it.”

A news release said the effort began in October 2024 when the county reached an agreement with the Harvest Foundation and WPPDC to support affordable housing development.

The county had acquired the vacant lots through seizures tied to drug activity and later cleared the properties of dilapidated structures.

In the same month, the county officially transferred ownership of the lots to WPPDC, clearing the way for construction.

Funding from the Harvest Foundation will cover the carrying costs of constructing two homes at a time.

Each home will be sold at cost, capped at $200,000, with proceeds from each sale reinvested into building more homes, the release said.

Officials said the county will not earn a profit from the initiative.

In April, the board awarded a $608,940 construction contract to Taylor Enterprise of Bassett for the first three homes on lots 9, 10, and 11.

The release said construction is expected to begin immediately, with subsequent homes built in phases as sales revenue becomes available.

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