220 Affordable Apartments Planned for Neff Avenue

Harrisonburg's City Council voted earlier this month to give an 8 acre tract of city-owned land on Neff Avenue to a developer that intends to build affordable housing on the site.

The plan calls for more than 200 apartments across from the JMU fields, near the Dream Come True playground.  

The developer's project proposal indicates this would include approximately:

• (44) 650 SF one bedroom apartments
• (132) 1,000 SF two bedroom apartments
• (44) 1,220 SF three bedroom apartments

It does appear that this project will be dependent on the developer being awarded Low Income Housing Tax Credits in 2027, and if they are (or assuming they are) then they will begin submitting building permit applications in late 2027.

Per the developer's anticipated project schedule in the proposed agreement with the City, we might see the development play out within this timeframe...

• January 2028 - construction begins on Phase 1
• Spring/Summer 2029 - apartments available for rent
• January 2029 - construction begins on Phase 2
• Summer 2030 - all apartments available for rent

The apartments would be income restricted for at least 30 years, meaning that tenants would have to have a household income at or less than 60% of AMI, the Area Median Income.  Though... per the agreement... individual apartments could be rented to a household earning up to 80% of AMI so long as across the entire phase the overall average income restriction does not exceed 60%.  So... they could mix in some 80% households if they also have some 40% households, for example.

AMI varies by household size, so these would be the income limits for tenants based on current AMI levels:

• Household of 1 Person = $41,040 income limit
• Household of 2 People = $46,920 income limit
• Household of 3 People = $52,800 income limit
• Household of 4 People = $58,620 income limit
• Household of 5 People = $63,360 income limit
• Household of 6 People = $68,040 income limit

Rent is then calculated based on 30% of a household's annual income, so if a household had the income referenced above, the rental rate would be...

• Household of 1 Person = $1,026
• Household of 2 People = $1,173
• Household of 3 People = $1,320
• Household of 4 People = $1,465
• Household of 5 People = $1,584
• Household of 6 People = $1,701

You can download lots of details about this planned development on the City website here.