You take folks that are currently living in public housing and have them literally work with the city or a non-profit to rehab a house. They have to be very involved and actually get their hands dirty and do a lot of the work.

Then, once the house is rehabed, it is offered to the individual(s) at an extremely discounted rate and is financed by the City.

An old house gets a nice makeover, a motivated individual not only gets a nice house, but also gets marketable job skills. The neighborhood and the lives of those residing in it both improve.

I wasn’t aware that any of these were in the Union Hill district,so again thanks for pointing that out, too.

However, one thing Post #10 refers to is an idea that some homes are “more historic” or “more contributing” than others.

From the National Park Service/Va Dept of Historic Resources perspective, once a district has been designated, and a structure is determined to be contributing or not, there is no other “value rating” for one structure versus another.

The reason why Union Hill was designated a National Historic District is because of the quantity of pre-1900 structures still standing. It was the density and variety of structures that added to the district’s uniqueness and helped it qualify for designation.

This means that a modest frame cottage on the 700 block of 24th Street is just as important as it’s grander brick neighbor, Cedar Street Baptist Church.

Yes, the NPS nomination certainly has more ink on the church than the neighboring cottage, but their relationship was symbiotic. If it weren’t for all those modest cottages, the church never would have been built.

So, to many of us living in Union Hill, the smaller homes, crafted with pride by the working class people who built them are just as important as the larger scale, more prominent buildings.

It’s the village that got the designation, not an individual building. This also explains why Federal and State Tax Credits are equally available to an owner who renovates a cottage versus a larger/grander structure.

I mention this because several of the homes in Murden’s slide show are in Union Hill, and they are definitely historic and were deemed contributing to the district.

Add to that that most of these properties don’t look like they are either in an O&H, nor are they seriously contributing structures in same.

Somewhat off the above topic but related to squatting – it used to be all the rage in London, and I seem to recall reading something recently about a similar group having taken over a mansion in London belonging to some old money family who had long moved out…apparently the process there of evicting the squatters is much more complicated than here. I actually admire out local squatters, think they’re drawing attention to something that needs attention.

Everyone bemoaned the loss of Union Hill, but not until long after it had fallen into such disrepair. Do I see history repeating itself?

The area will likely see some traction from Better Housing Coalition’s huge redevelopment at Beckstoffers and Habitat for Humanity’s nearby Pillars at Oakmont.