Southwood celebrates the completion of its first village

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Charlottesville’s Habitat for Humanity celebrated a milestone in its Southwood project with a dedication ceremony.

The ceremony was a testament to all of the work and effort that went into finishing the first village in Southwood and welcomed in its first homeowners.

“Today was the dedication ceremony for the first village at Southwood. A national model redevelopment, but a mobile home park without any resident displacement,” said Dan Rosenweig with Habitat for Humanity.

Habitat for Humanity worked hand in hand with Southwood residents to be able to provide the homes.

“In exchange for a deeply, deeply subsidized home that everybody can afford, we asked them to volunteer some time doing ‘sweat equity,’” Rosenweig said.

‘Sweat equity’ means all thirty families moving into these homes had a hand in building and designing the community they now call home.

“We believe that when people build their homes, and when they own their homes, and when they build and own their community, they invest in it, and they take care of it,” Rosenweig said. “We’re going to keep doing this probably for another 10 or 12 years so that every family here in Southwood has a place that they can call home.”

These thirty new home owners make up the first of eleven planned villages in Southwood.

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